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Keywords: Prisons

  • AUSTRALIA

    Spare the rod and respect the child

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 28 March 2024

    As a response to a wave of youth crime, some State Governments and Federal politicians have committed to policies that neglect the human reality of the young people concerned. This will likely have negative consequences both for those immediately affected and for society at large.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Being disinterested in Djokovic

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 20 September 2023
    3 Comments

    Novak Djokovic's on-court triumphs are undeniable, yet off-court controversies spark widespread debate. Navigating the complex interplay of admiration, critique, and understanding becomes essential in grasping the narrative of this unparalleled yet enigmatic champion. Can we disentangle his sporting prowess from off-court controversies?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Myths peddling the cycles of cruelty to children

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 27 July 2023
    6 Comments

    In a society quick to categorize children as either good or bad, reform efforts seem caught in a cyclical battle. Children often fall victim to these broad definitions, especially those from disadvantaged groups. What factors cause these cycles of progress and relapse, and how can lasting reform be achieved? 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    State-sanctioned child abuse serves no-one

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 20 July 2023
    1 Comment

    A Supreme Court judge in Western Australia has banned solitary confinement at Banksia Detention Centre, shining a light on the controversial practices within the nation's juvenile justice centres. Yet, public response remains muted despite the troubling revelations, raising concerns about systemic failures, the need for empathy and societal responsibility towards our youth.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Spare the child

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 04 May 2023
    1 Comment

    When is a child fully responsible for their actions? The State Attorneys General have met to seek agreement on raising the age of criminal responsibility to 12, provoking questions around whether children can be held fully accountable for their actions at such a young age, and whether the criminal justice system needs to focus on rehabilitation over punishment.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Forgiveness and duty collide in Time

    • Paul Mitchell
    • 13 April 2023

    Prisons are settings to which TV and film writers return regularly. It’s because ‘the joint’ gives them an environment in which they can enact the dramatic principle of the crucible easily: tension between duelling inmate protagonists and antagonists is heightened quickly to boiling point because no one can simply walk away.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Changing the dial to Catastrophic

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 16 March 2023
    2 Comments

    As the National Council for Fire and Emergency Services updated Australia's fire danger ratings to include 'Catastrophic', it's worth considering other crises that pose a catastrophic threat like climate change, war, diseases, and economic loss, where disadvantaged groups disproportionately suffer.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    And so this is Christmas Island

    • Farhad Bandesh
    • 14 December 2022
    3 Comments

    My name is Farhad Bandesh. For seven-and-a-half years I was not called by my name. The Australian Federal Government took it away and changed my identity to a number. I was COA 060. I am Kurdish and we are a persecuted people.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Australia's OPCAT problem

    • Binoy Kampmark
    • 17 November 2022
    1 Comment

    Australia’s ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) came about as a reaction to the abuses recorded at the Northern Territory’s Don Dale youth prison. To monitor compliance with OPCAT, UN independent inspection teams are permitted to conduct unannounced visits to any place where people are deprived of liberty. But on October 24, a Corrective Services NSW spokesperson announced that inspection teams were ‘refused entry without incident’.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Uncle Jack Charles: A tribute

    • Arnold Zable
    • 14 September 2022
    6 Comments

    I am deeply saddened at the passing of inspirational actor, storyteller, artist, potter, musician Uncle Jack Charles. I loved him. I was one of the many who loved him. He was a gentle, loving, big-hearted man, despite it all. Because of it all. He triumphed over institutional racism, the legacy of colonialism, and the immense suffering, fragmentation, and trauma it left in its wake.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Secretly suicidal: Why prisoners need access to Medicare

    • Damien Linnane
    • 27 July 2022

    Two months into a 10-month prison sentence, I was placed in solitary confinement after having a nervous breakdown. I’d originally made a fruitless attempt to keep my breakdown to myself, because I’d been told what would happen if Corrective Services found out I was having mental health issues. One of the first friends I made in prison, like many of the inmates, was suicidal. ‘The best advice I can give you if you’re struggling with your mental health’, he told me, ‘is to do everything you can to keep it from the officers.’

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  • RELIGION

    Should women be deacons? The stories behind Motion 54

    • Elizabeth Young
    • 15 June 2022
    2 Comments

      Should women be considered for ministry as deacon? Should Pope Francis authorise such ministry? This topic often raises emotions, and strong views either for or against. This is one of the questions posed by Motion 54 to the Church’s July Plenary Council session, where members will amend and vote on 105 motions, prompted by the question, ‘What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?’ Motion 54 is one to watch.

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