Analysing Australian Social Justice issues - Essay Example

For the individual self, he or she is obliged to respect the corresponding right of others. This goes to say that a violation of the right of the other would entitle the violator or offender a punishment. Punishment is a form of regulation. When a criminal commits a crime, he or she is imprisoned. Regulation here is justifiable. Social justice then is achieved by the victim. This is how the rule of law works. It is fair and balanced. Incarceration takes away the liberty of the offender in exchange for the victim’s security.

In this sense, the right to liberty is essentially linked with the right to security. A person’s “physical security is an inseparable part of the deprivation of liberty” (Langley, 1999). Q2) In recent years, the Queensland Police Service launched their One Punch Can Kill campaign. (See attached Case study #1) (a) In addition to young men aged between 15-25 years, who is the program trying to reach, and why? Aside from young men aged between 15-25 years old, the “One Punch Can Kill” program is trying to reach girls and women.

It is desired that the females in Queensland, Australia will help in making the program successful by influencing the young males not to violently react in heated instances as well as to instill in their minds that it is okay to walk away. Facilitators of the program are hopeful for the women to heed this call. Research data actually show that young men are highly influenced by the females surrounding them such as their moms, girlfriends and sisters. (b) What are some of the social effects of alcohol related violence?

The “One Punch Can Kill” program enumerates the social effects of alcohol-related violence. There are six known results of this kind of violence. These are the following: (1) death (2) imprisonment (3) a permanent record of crime commission (4) leads one in not having a passport (5) prohibition to travel overseas and (6) emotional trauma for friends and family of the offender and the victim. Of the six, death is to be rated as the most undesired consequence. Alcohol-related violence destroys the future of young individuals.

It affects the way the victim interacts with other people. Q3) Why do crimes such as domestic violence and rape often go unreported? Provide at least four (4) reasons in your answer. According to Bergman and Berman (2009), domestic violence and rape are often unreported due to the following reasons: (1) the victim may think that it is better for the violence to be an isolated case so that it will not be repeated (2) the victim may fear that reporting the act of violence will just trigger his or her attacker to make more violent conducts (3) in case of a battered wife, she may fear that reporting the domestic violence could lead to loss of financial support for her children (4) in case of a raped victim, she may be ashamed of her situation. Q4) Thinking in terms of social and criminal justice, provide four (4) explanations for the over-representation of Aboriginal people in Australian prisons.

In your answer, also provide one example of how the Australian Government is responding to this inequality. Aboriginal people are over-represented in Australian prisons due to the following reasons: (1) the compulsory removal of the Aboriginal children away from their families and the institutionalisation that followed (2) socio-economic disadvantages -- such as unemployment,