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Such a sad thing to happen. I hope victims and their families are given every possible consideration and assistance. My heart really goes out to them. I briefly meet a really nice couple who were later both killed in the Port Arthur tragedy.
I watch some crime documentaries on cable TV. I like seeing how crimes are solved and truth be told, I like that they catch up and put away some terrible people. What dismays me however, is even though the US punishments for crime seem so much more severe than in Australia, the crime rate there remains high and there is no shortage of new criminals. The harsh deterrents do not seem to work.
Poverty of course is the breeding ground of much crime. I recently saw a show claiming the Australian have the second highest incomes per person in the world. Surprising, we were second only to Switzerland.
If that be the case, is this as good as it gets? It seems that we will unfortunately always have an element in society doing terrible things. Indeed, according to the renowned NZ Dunedin University Study, about one in twenty of the population will have ongoing contact with the justice system during their lifetime. This is a depressing high figure.
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