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To all,

I would like to urge you to sign the petition and add your
comments to the following site regarding the abolishment of
mandatory sentencing in the Northern Territory (Australia):

         http://kola-hq.hypermart.net/actmandt.htm

Last year, when I was in the NT with school, I asked a lady
how much the community had suffered as a result of mandatory
sentencing. She said "terribly," one of the main concerns
was people being moved so far away that their family could
not see them.

These laws should be repealed as soon as possible.

peace

Liam N.
Elsie Herten.

The text of the petition is as follows:

We, the undersigned, 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, for stealing under
$50 worth of stationary, 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
percent of the prison population is Aboriginal. This
compares with 33.1% in Western Australia and 21.6% in
Queensland. In UNICEF's 1997 report "Progress of Nations",
Australia was singled out for particular criticism in regard
to one aspect of children's rights. Under a heading
"Injustice to Juveniles", the report revealed that
indigenous Australian children are incarcerated at 18 times
the rate of non-indigenous children, although they comprise
only 2.6 per cent of the national youth population.

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 behavior.

Repeal Mandatory Sentencing NOW!
http://kola-hq.hypermart.net/actmandt.htm
 

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Information Pages: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Online Petition: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
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