http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/crime/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/ When the Snowtown murder trial concluded in 2003 a prominent criminologist scandalised the good people of Adelaide by saying there was nothing surprising or remarkable about the case. New Yorker Allan Perry, a lecturer in criminal law at the University of Adelaide, blamed what he called a subculture of degeneracy in the city’s most depressed and dysfunctional suburbs, defined by inter-generational welfare dependency, the daily abuse of alcohol and drugs, shocking levels of child abuse, child neglect and family violence. Dr Perry said the only thing which shocked him about Snowtown was that people were shocked by it. And he really cut loose in his description of my hometown, sending talkback and the letters pages into meltdown, and prompting the then Attorney General Mick Atkinson to tell him to move back to Brooklyn. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-horror-movie-about-poverty-and-violence/#item7675 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/ It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/is-an-act-of-crime-ever-too-trivial-for-investigation/#item7550 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-archaic-defence-that-belongs-in-the-dark-ages/ In July 2008 I was shocked when I received a call from the police telling me that my parish church of Saint Mary’s, in Maryborough, Queensland, was a crime scene. A man was found dead by parishioners as they arrived for a morning communion liturgy. It was devastating and shocking. I and my parishioners followed the case closely. Very soon, two suspects were caught. Our church security cameras caught the events of the terrible bashing. I was appalled when it was claimed that an alleged homosexual advance was a reason given for the man being bashed and left lying overnight in the church grounds. I was likewise appalled when I found that an alleged or perceived homosexual advance (of even the most minor gesture or touch) can be used as a partial defence in a murder case in Queensland (and also to an extent in NSW). What reason could justify a bashing that leads to someone’s death? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-archaic-defence-that-belongs-in-the-dark-ages/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/an-archaic-defence-that-belongs-in-the-dark-ages/#item7504 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/ The ugly Australian is alive and well and holidaying in South East Asia. Right now he or she is probably bashing someone, taking drugs, or stealing stuff.  Of course, it’s never their fault. It’s always the “harsh” or “draconian” laws of the country in which the crime is committed, which is inevitably described as “primitive”. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/meet-the-ugly-australian/#item7417 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filthy-murderous-mobsters-are-no-goodfellas/ It doesn’t matter if these days they’re modern boardroom businessmen in Ermenegildo Zegna suits and Bally shoes. They’re still the Mafia, and they’ll still mug you. This week the US Department of Justice and the FBI released a series of documents reminding us the Mafia – aka La Cosa Nostra, the Mob, or as insiders call it, “This Thing of Ours” – really are not such nice people, even if they know good meatball recipes and are nice to children. The DoJ and the FBI announced indictments against 13 individuals, being a combination of mobsters, lawyers and accountants, most of who were arrested in coordinated raids on Wednesday morning. This particular scam allegedly worked like this: feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filthy-murderous-mobsters-are-no-goodfellas/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/filthy-murderous-mobsters-are-no-goodfellas/#item7399 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-hang-the-jury/ In a perfect world, justice would be swift. Right and wrong would be black and white. Good people would feel protected by the law and bad people would go to jail. In reality, crimes like murder and rape are as complicated as they are common. Sound verdicts take time. So a Sydney judge’s suggestion to do away with juries in these cases, in the interests of efficiency, presents serious risk to the way we understand and trust the law. Speed in these decisions risks poor judgement. Worse, it can destroy people’s lives. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-hang-the-jury/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-hang-the-jury/#item7380 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-high-price-of-male-silence-on-violence-against-women/ Every bloke has a mother. Many of us also have sisters and daughters. Some of us have all three. When it comes to the question of violence towards women, our default position is that if anyone laid a finger on our mum, our sister, our daughter or our own partner, we’d probably want to kill them. There is a gap, however, between this zero-tolerance rhetoric on violence towards women in the immediate personal setting, and instances of violence towards women in the more distant context of friends and acquaintances, neighbours and work colleagues. One of the most powerful and moving programs of 2011 was the Australian Story profile on Catherine Smith, who over the course of 30 years was raped, bashed and tortured by her husband Kevin Smith. He choked her with power cables, attacked with her with a cattle prod and a fire poker, sexually assaulted her at gunpoint. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-high-price-of-male-silence-on-violence-against-women/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-high-price-of-male-silence-on-violence-against-women/#item7190 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-weeks-lesson-dancing-will-not-solve-your-problems/ Welcome to a new semi-regular segment on The Punch, where we try to extract something meaningful from the week that was. In yet another week dominated by the carbon tax and financial turmoil, the other big story was the guilty verdict on Michael Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who slowly poisoned Jacko with a toxic mix of anaesthetic and sedatives. Jacko wanted a cure for insomnia so he could rest up for his imminent comeback tour. The thing is, why did he need drugs at all? According to the man himself, dancing could solve all problems. Let’s examine the video evidence… feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Behind the picture http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-weeks-lesson-dancing-will-not-solve-your-problems/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-weeks-lesson-dancing-will-not-solve-your-problems/#item7121 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/ At a guess you could probably assume that none of our seven High Court judges lives in Merrylands, in Sydney’s west, where the Nomads and Hells Angels are engaged in what the police reassuringly describe not as a bikie gang war but merely “tit for tat violence”. It is also unlikely that any of these eminent jurists lives in Northmead, where an innocent woman had her house strafed with bullets while she was sleeping last week in a zany address mix-up by a bikie who was having trouble reading his UBD. Presumably, none of the judges lives in Adelaide’s north-western suburb of Semaphore where an 11-year-old boy, the son of a former member of the Finks, was shot in the leg while he slept during a home invasion last month. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-the-high-court-exposed-suburbia-to-biker-mayhem/#item7090 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-must-be-a-job-for-superkevin/ Today’s news that an Iranian actor faces a year’s jail and 90 lashes for starring in a South Australia-funded film is an affront to justice, artistic license and about 100 other things. It is, however, very good news for a certain K Rudd. The man who was Prime Minister until he walked backwards into a very long scimitar has had a good week. Not since he confronted a jaded John Howard and his despised WorkChoices at the 2007 election has Rudd been presented with such a string of scenarios tailor-made for his popularity. If politics is normally the equivalent of facing missiles hurled at 100 miles an hour, this week has been T-Ball for Rudd. First, he out-manouevred Gillard with the Kuta Kid, owning the news cycle and making Gillard’s phone call to the boy’s cell look like a desperate grab for attention. Now he’s got the chance to go into bat for Iranian actor Marzieh Vafamehr. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-must-be-a-job-for-superkevin/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/this-must-be-a-job-for-superkevin/#item6894 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 It’s a sunny afternoon and I’m sitting on the grass, headphones in, leaning against a retaining wall in a busy Sydney park. Suddenly, while thumbing through my phone, it’s snatched from my hand, inches from the ground. It all happens so fast I just jump up and yell, “Hey!”. My brain catches up with what’s happened. A tall man, in a white shirt, sprints away and I see two, thin, white headphone chords flailing behind him. My phone has been stolen.