The worst of good intentions?

Anthropologist Peter Sutton knows Aurukun. He also knows a Queenland court failed in its duty to sanction a group of Aboriginal men who gang raped a ten year old girl and he asks how Judge Sarah Bradley's judicial instincts could go so astray. "Bradley is a self-defined progressive and has long given lenient sentences because she thought it was important to keep Aboriginal offenders out of custody. Why this ought to be an end in itself is unclear, especially ...weighed against the imperative need to stem child abuse. It cannot be because Aboriginal offenders are more likely to die in gaol than out of it. The reverse is the case. Gaol is actually safer than a place like Aurukun." Read More...