Territory Stories

Petition Requesting that the Northern Territory Government repeal the Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile offenders Bill 1999 immediately (102 petitioners)

Details:

Title

Petition Requesting that the Northern Territory Government repeal the Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile offenders Bill 1999 immediately (102 petitioners)

Other title

Tabled Paper 1917

Collection

Tabled papers for 8th Assembly 1997 - 2001; Tabled papers; ParliamentNT

Date

2000-06-20

Description

Tabled by Clare Martin

Notes

Made available by the Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory under Standing Order 240. Where copyright subsists with a third party it remains with the original owner and permission may be required to reuse the material.

Language

English

Subject

Tabled papers

File type

application/pdf

Use

Copyright

Copyright owner

See publication

License

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Series/C1968A00063

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/296379

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/393607

Page content

alpha.lau@ericsson.com.au@SMTP@mcsiOO.epa.ericsson.se on 06:56:52 Sent by: epalaua@mcsiOO.epa.ericsson.se To: Graham Gadd/LEGASSEM/EXEC_SERVICES@EXEC_SERVICES cc: Subject: Mandatory Sentencing We, the undersigned Australians, request that the Northern Territory Government repeal the Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders Bill 1999 immediately. We believe the recent death of a fifteen year old Aboriginal boy who was being detained in Darwin under the Territory's mandatory sentencing laws was avoidable. We believe the Mandatory Sentencing of Juvenile Offenders Bill 1999 is discriminatory, disrespectful, morally abhorrent, racist and unjust. The Mandatory Sentencing Bill takes the responsibility for law and order away from the local custodians of the law in each Aboriginal community in the Territory. Despite the Royal Commission's Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and 339 recommendations later, Aboriginal people are still 14 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Aboriginal Australians. In the Northern Territory, 72.8 per cent of the prison population is Aboriginal. This compares with 33.1% in Western Australia and 21.6% in Queensland. Does the Northern Territory Government genuinely believe that mandatory sentencing laws are making a real difference? There is a better way. We believe the boy's local community and family could have undertaken a more appropriate action under customary law and the young boy would probably still be alive today. We urge you to consider enabling and supporting Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory to implement their own laws as responsible, respectful and valid, ways of dealing with offensive law breaking behaviour. Yours sincerely, Name and Email Address: 1. Andy Marr NSW ajmarr@bigpond.com 2. Raga Ragavan NSW raga.ragavan@smec.com.au 3. Anthony M. Capsalis, NSW antcap@bigpond.com 4. Deborah Fisher, Qld debfisher@bigpond.com 5. Simon Scally. NT. bud@octa4.net.au 6. Ann Scally, VIC ascally@bigpond.com 7. Sarah Stegley howqua@mansfield.net.au 8. Marieke Brugman howqua@mansfield.net-.au 9. Therese Caine tcaine@tcenterprises.com.au 10. Paul Kent, VIC plkent@infoxchange.net.au 11. Lois Kent, VIC plkent@infoxchange.net.au 12. Lucinda Young, VIC niok@diesel.net.au 13. Maurice Kennedy, VIC niok@diesel. net', au mailto:SMTP@mcsiOO.epa.ericsson.se mailto:epalaua@mcsiOO.epa.ericsson.se mailto:ajmarr@bigpond.com mailto:raga.ragavan@smec.com.au mailto:antcap@bigpond.com mailto:debfisher@bigpond.com mailto:bud@octa4.net.au mailto:ascally@bigpond.com mailto:howqua@mansfield.net.au mailto:tcaine@tcenterprises.com.au mailto:plkent@infoxchange.net.au mailto:plkent@infoxchange.net.au mailto:niok@diesel.net.au