Comments on: The Robing Room: Geoff Eames defends Sarah Bradley http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/15/the-robing-room-geoff-eames-defends-sarah-bradley/ now with extra source Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:08:14 +1100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Greg Angelo http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/15/the-robing-room-geoff-eames-defends-sarah-bradley/#comment-6547 Greg Angelo Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-6547 Arguing diminished responsibility because of the ethnicity of the criminal puts us on the slippery path to cultural relativism in deciding whether or not the law should be obeyed in Australia. Equality before the law is the cornerstone of our legal and judicial system and should not be discarded lightly. Of particular concern is the victims of criminal behaviour and because of the adversarial nature of our legal system they are often not considered or heard.<br /><br />If people of particular ethnic or social persuasion believe that they have less responsibility for conforming to the law this will lead to the creation of an underclass of victims with little or no redress. The evidence for this is already around us in relation to neglected children and mistreated women in dysfunctional partnership or marital relationships.<br /><br />If the perpetrators of these crimes are ignorant of the law and their associated social responsibilities then this is a problem for their cultural and social institutions, and the community at large through the education system. Fundamentally you cannot teach social obedience to a group that does not wish to conform and incarceration and re-education is unfortunately the only step left.<br /><br />One often examines the decisions of the judiciary with a sense of despair bordering on frustration where all consideration appears to be for the perpetrator of a crime and very little empathy or sympathy for the victim. <br />Because of the nature of our judicial system the victim essentially has little or no influence in the outcome of the criminal judicial process. Not surprisingly some aspects of the the judiciary become concerned with their own personal dimensions of the problem rather than the problem at large, and in what appears to be a perverse manifestation of the "Stockholm syndrome" appear to empathise more with the perpetrators of crime than the victims. Arguing diminished responsibility because of the ethnicity of the criminal puts us on the slippery path to cultural relativism in deciding whether or not the law should be obeyed in Australia. Equality before the law is the cornerstone of our legal and judicial system and should not be discarded lightly. Of particular concern is the victims of criminal behaviour and because of the adversarial nature of our legal system they are often not considered or heard.

If people of particular ethnic or social persuasion believe that they have less responsibility for conforming to the law this will lead to the creation of an underclass of victims with little or no redress. The evidence for this is already around us in relation to neglected children and mistreated women in dysfunctional partnership or marital relationships.

If the perpetrators of these crimes are ignorant of the law and their associated social responsibilities then this is a problem for their cultural and social institutions, and the community at large through the education system. Fundamentally you cannot teach social obedience to a group that does not wish to conform and incarceration and re-education is unfortunately the only step left.

One often examines the decisions of the judiciary with a sense of despair bordering on frustration where all consideration appears to be for the perpetrator of a crime and very little empathy or sympathy for the victim.
Because of the nature of our judicial system the victim essentially has little or no influence in the outcome of the criminal judicial process. Not surprisingly some aspects of the the judiciary become concerned with their own personal dimensions of the problem rather than the problem at large, and in what appears to be a perverse manifestation of the “Stockholm syndrome” appear to empathise more with the perpetrators of crime than the victims.

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