lucky theives

[jessb]

At the risk of causing a good ol' APS show down i think the laws in Australia that so far seem to be looking after the criminal is what is causing and encouraging vigilante justice. So long as theives are getting away with property crime and home invasions and the law does nothing about it you will find people taking matters for themselves.

I can give you three examples that have happened within my neighbourhood. My dad and i chased down a violent bag snatcher who punched a 14yo girl in the face to steal her bag. We got the bag back but then he got away. Later that night he was standing across the road from our house so we phoned the police and they flat out refused to come because they couldn't find the job number of the case.

Second again my dad and i chased a home invader out of our neighbours house only for him to turn around and threaten us with a knife. I got on the phone to the police straight away while he was waving a knife at us. We had a stand off for a good 5 minutes before we got back everyhting he had taken and he started running. I chased him for about 4km (which for my runnung is about 20-25minutes worth) on the phone giving directions to the police the whole way before i lost him. The police turned up 2 hours later.

Last one, my friends house was broken into. The house was ransacked, all their teenage kids clothes were stolen along with all the valuable household goods and two motorcross bikes each worth alot more than i could ever afford. After the general broohaha with the law the police even said to them that it was unlikely they could do anything about it. A few weeks later after doing some detective work of their own they caught the two who broke into their house themselves while out riding on the stolen bikes. They apprehended them with cricket bats and iron bars and called the police. Then the police had the gall to charge them with some ridiculous charges along the lines of carrying a dangerous weapon (until they got a lawyers and the charges were dropped).

So why would anyone bother to call the police when it acheives very little? In each of these cases we did on our own what the police couldn't/wouldn't do. The vigilantes work a whole lot better than the police do.

I agree that the existing system is far from perfect but what is our alternative and who oversees a vigilante system of justice? Sure, your examples might be completely reasonable, but what about the shop owner who shoots dead a kid who has been shoplifting, or a bunch of guys who beat up someone cutting them off in traffic, or the many many cases of mistaken identity or revenge attacks that would ensue?

There is way too much margin for error in the system you suggest which is why we have requirements of evidence, assumption of innocence and trial by a jury of one's peers in a democracy.

 

[waruikazi]

I agree that the existing system is far from perfect but what is our alternative and who oversees a vigilante system of justice? Sure, your examples might be completely reasonable, but what about the shop owner who shoots dead a kid who has been shoplifting, or a bunch of guys who beat up someone cutting them off in traffic, or the many many cases of mistaken identity or revenge attacks that would ensue?

There is way too much margin for error in the system you suggest which is why we have requirements of evidence, assumption of innocence and trial by a jury of one's peers in a democracy.

You misunderstand me Jess. I'm not encouraging or promoting vigilanty style justice i am arguing with you about the source of vigilante justice. You say that our laws stop this kind of thing from happening which i disagree but do concede that they are designed to to stop it. I think the laws rendure our criminal justice system so useless and protect the criminal so well that it encourages individuals to take the law into their own hands. Why would you bother calling the police when all you are not going to recover any costs, not have the offender receive any retribution and lose significant ammounts of your time?

At the risk of causing a good ol' APS show down i think the laws in Australia that so far seem to be looking after the criminal is what is causing and encouraging vigilante justice. So long as theives are getting away with property crime and home invasions and the law does nothing about it you will find people taking matters for themselves.