The Prison Industrial Complex – Exerting Social Control and Producing Cheap Labour
Prison industrial complex (PIC) is a term used to describe systems where the government uses incarceration as a way to deal with people labelled as undesirable, while helping private industry to turn a profit. Such models are heavily focused on...
Terrorism by the United States Goes Unpunished
During his election campaign, much of Donald Trump’s rhetoric hearkened back to the United States’ isolationist policy of the early to mid-twentieth century. Today, it’s hard to believe that the world’s reigning superpower once tried to avoid getting involved in the globe’s...
Sniffer Dog Operations – Ineffective, Intrusive and Dangerous
Once again, figures obtained under the Government Information (Public Access) Act NSW 2009 suggest that the enormous amount of taxpayer funds and police resources invested into drug dog detection programs are not delivering dividends when it comes to addressing the illegal...
Uber-Driving Lawyer Challenges Bully Cop
A criminal defence lawyer who was moonlighting as an Uber driver has filmed police trying to intimidate him and falsely claiming he was not allowed to film their encounter. North Carolina lawyer Jesse Bright was pulled over by police on...
Police Want Lockout Laws Across the State
The NSW lockout laws were hailed a success at the end of last year, with data suggesting the clamp-down on bars and nightclubs has reduced violence in the city centre and Kings Cross precinct by as much as 40%. However,...
Lack of Post-Release Support Leads to Indigenous Deaths and Re-offending
When it comes to the prison population in Australia, the Indigenous are heavily over-represented. As of 30 June 2015, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprised 9,885 out of 35,845 people incarcerated in Australian correctional facilities. Australia’s First Peoples make up 3...
Eight Rounds in Eight Seconds: the Adler Is Coming to Australia
The Australian federal, state and territory governments have amended the National Firearms Agreement (NFA), but haven’t announced it to the public. Instead they recently posted the 2017 agreement on the attorney-general’s website. Neither George Brandis nor Australian justice minister Michael Keenan have issued...
Queensland Police Reforms Labelled a Failure
Since the Queensland Police Force (QPS) announced a massive restructure in 2013, complaints against police and crime rates have risen by almost 10%. Surfers Paradise - also known as ‘The Glitter Strip’ - has seen a 17 per cent spike...
The Poor Are Criminalised, While the Crimes of the Rich Are Overlooked
The world’s eight richest people have accumulated more wealth than the poorest four billion, a recently released Oxfam report reveals. And since 2015, the richest 1 percent has owned more than the rest of the world’s 99 percent. The gap between rich...
The Long Road to Becoming a Lawyer
A Queensland magistrate sentenced a 33-year-old man to three months in prison for pretending to be a lawyer. Nicolas Braid was also ordered to pay back the money he charged an unsuspecting client for legal services, when he appeared in court...
