This blog has several aims. Firstly, I hope to create a framework for thinking clearly about crime in Alice Springs because such a framework seems lacking.
Secondly, I aim to add meaningfully to the growing body of therapeutic jurisprudence, which is part of sustainable justice. Thirdly, I hope to help the community of Alice Springs find sustainable solutions for the complex crime problem. Lastly, I hope to help “to turn bad into good” as is described in the Charter of Sustainable Justice.3
This blog also aims to consider seriously the idea that our actions are not freely chosen and that instead, unchosen factors such as genetic make-up, arising emotions, arising thoughts, arising desires, arising sensations, parenting styles we are exposed to, environments we are exposed to, neighbourhoods we are exposed to, our schooling or the lack thereof, and trauma to body and brains, are the main drivers of our actions. This research considers what effects such an idea would have on the current criminal justice system and on crime responses such as prisons.
Criminal justice policy should be based on known scientific evidence and not on opinions, feelings, religious beliefs, assumptions, or folklore. The criminal justice system should be crystal clear about the origins of human behaviour. Retribution, punishing people because they deserve it, makes as little sense as punishing a rock, a branch of a tree, or an animal, as humans used to do in the past, as will be recounted later in this blog. It was not so long ago that the circus elephant Mary (the inspiration for the title of the blog) was prosecuted, convicted and sentenced to be publicly hanged from a railway crane as a punishment for having lashed out at her handler. At the autopsy, it turned out that Mary had had a severely
infected tooth where her handler had prodded her.
We do not publicly hang elephants any more. We would find such a practice bizarre now. We think we have become so much more civilised; but have we, really?
If policy were to be based on rigorously obtained, peer-reviewed empirical evidence, then the way that the criminal justice system and police, courts and prisons operate may have to change radically. In fact, in the author’s view this is long overdue. There will come a point in history when we look back on today's court practices as bizarre, cruel and inhumane.
One visit to Alice Springs’ Lower Court on a typical day reveals that lawyers and judges still resemble the coloniser, with their wigs, gowns, and use of formal language. A day of listening to the verdicts in this court informs us that the libertarian view of the centralised self with free will is very much alive, and the driver of how we treat the crime problem in our community –with catastrophic consequences.
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