DPP not looking forward to law-and-order campaign

Nicholas Cowdery

by Kerri Carr

Criticism of politicians' and the media's comments on criminal justice were the subject of NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Nicholas Cowdery's Friday Forum address on June 2.

He said the separation of powers (legislative, judicial and executive) was important to "keep abuse of power in check".

"Whenever one arm of government tries to influence another arm of government or do the work of another arm of government there are problems."

Mr Cowdery mentioned several cases where politicians have "jumped on the bandwagon" about decision-making by judges.

"It is not the legislator's role to pass sentence on individuals; that's the judiciary's role. That distinction must be maintained."

Mr Cowdery quoted parts of a Sydney Morning Herald (May 12) article by Anne Davis which reported Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Spigelman saying: "The requirements of deterrence, rehabilitation, denunciation, punishment and restorative justice do not point in the same direction. These tasks -- whether sentencing or release on parole -- involve a difficult process of weighing and balancing such matters. Long experience has established that such tasks are best done by independent, impartial and experienced persons who are not subject to the transient rages and enthusiasms that attend the so frequently ill-informed, or partly informed public debate on such matters."

Justice Spigelman also said: "Most of us can only truly serve the public interest by maintaining a level of toughness...That is not to suggest what we do is above criticism and can not profit from public debate. It is just that so much of what passes for debate is ill-informed, formulaic ad unhelpful."

"To which I say: 'here, here'," Mr Cowdery said.

Mr Cowdery said he was not looking forward to the next 10 months, leading up to the state election.

He mentioned a Daily Telegraph opinion piece (May 22) by political reporter Simon Benson.

Mr Benson said, in part: "Sydney is being terrorised into believing it is a city under criminal siege.

"People live in fear of riotous thugs setting their homes ablaze, their families being gunned down, their daughters raped and their cars stolen...In the grip of this new crime wave -- which statistics suggest exists only in the minds of politicians -- law and order policy has become doctrine. A bidding war between the State Government and the Opposition is delivering draconian policy from one side and promises of even greater force from the other."

"Why then, a reasonable person may ask, are we still having a hysterical debate about police powers and the laws which govern our behaviour? The simple answer is politics -- and an election in 10 months time.

"While it is bogged down in argument with the Opposition on how many police it can pay for, it is not being engaged on issues which are foremost in people's minds -- health and transport."

Mr Cowdery said the public was not getting depth on issues from radio commentators.

"[We are just] getting reinforcement of already existing views," he said.

He said law and order gave rise to "instant experts, lots of discussion and debate" and quoted Oscar Wilde: "By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community."

"I'm a very strong defender of freedom of expression...and media for informing us and educating us...but we need to critically appraise what we see, what we hear," Mr Cowdery said.

He quoted John Laws's comment: "I'm not a journalist and I don't pretend to be a journalist. I'm an entertainer... There isn't a hook for ethics."

"I think it sums it up in a slightly scary fashion," Mr Cowdery said.

Mr Cowdery will speak at Annual Conference.

©2000-2002 NSWTF Online is a resource for teachers
provided by the NSW Teachers Federation.
[Authorisation of election comment] [Privacy]

http://www.nswtf.org.au/journal_extras/dpp.html
Last Modified: 23 Jun 2006