We are well aware that a few hundred years ago people were hanged in Europe for poaching (stealing) a rabbit and the ruling classes did not need to look at or question their part  and selfishness in ignoring the cause of such (supposed) crimes, although greed, oppression, gross injustice and unfairness was rife in the way they lived their lives. All they had to do was sweep their problems under the carpet by hanging the perpetrators without the need to change anything, which to a large extent our leaders still do today.
The case against having a death penalty was the gross miscarriages of justice that have been exposed over the years, we are aware of cases like Derek Bentley and Timothy Evans in the UK when innocent slow thinking people were sent to the gallows. Since DNA testing became available in the southern states of the US, about eighty percent of the condemned (mainly blacks) were found to be innocent. However, who are we to condemn a country like Singapore where you can walk the streets and experience the feeling of total safety, that same feeling that we could acclaim in our country a few decades ago, we now live in fear, no one is safe, even going shopping you could be mugged by some low life who believes he has the right to steal your possessions, or fear for your venerable aging parents that they could be bashed in their own home for a few dollars of the pension. Sadly, we no longer have deterrents that scare these low lifes. Our Governments and courts rationalize the cost of incarcerating, which allows these crims to be back out on the streets in an unacceptable short time. I wonder how many would re-offend. If jails were more like those in Asian countries and you had to work 40 hours a week to be able to buy better food, most of these criminals may well think twice before re offending, they have no concept of how hard it is to work. Statistics show that most are second and third generations of people that know no other way than to live off the dole.

Or is the only solution to adopt Singapore’s stance.

Yours, 

Margie Bass

77 Keymer Street 

Belmont 

WA 6104

Dear Sir,

Most people would empathise with Senator Lyn Allison and her family's
consternation discovering she was pregnant at 18 years and single. Most
families have had similar experiences. Her recent revelation in the
Senate was hardly earth shattering and it is to be hoped members of the
House of Representatives get things a little more in perspective when
they vote on  RU486 this week. Senator Allison argued that had she given
birth to her child "I probably wouldn't be here (in the Senate)" But
other Senators have become pregnant at 18, have acknowledged  the right-
to- life- of their unborn child, given birth and gone on to be elected
to Parliament at a younger age than was Senator Allison. There was an
audible gasp from the young women in the Visitor's Gallery when she made
this statement. They interpreted it as a put down that women couldn't do
both. Have a baby and be elected to the Senate. Outside the Gallery
hangs a portrait of  Dame Enid Lyons, the first woman in the Australian
Parliament. She was elected after she had 12 children!

Not a single pro "choice" Senator voted against the RU486 Bill last week
so MHR's won't convince us this week that this Bill isn't about
abortion. It was a triumph of ideology over truth. But pro lifers
(pardon my disobedience Senator Vanstone!) shouldn't be disheartened.
Those young women in the gallery are new wave pro life women and they
just keep coming!

Yours faithfully,


Denise M Cameron
Secretary Pro Life Victoria
672b Glenferrie Rd.
Hawthorn 3122
*Tel. 03 9 387 70 65
        03 9 8186186

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