Is Australia a Dangerous State? - Crime, Punishment and Criminal Justice

This paper focuses on the dangerousness or the adverse implications of the penal law taken by the Australian criminal and justice law system upon the citizens and the non-citizens who live in the country. The paper touches on the international comparison of Australian incarceration rates as compared with the other nations in the globe. As a conclusion, Australia is among the most unsafe countries to reside in the world.

CRIME PUNISHMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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Crime punishment and criminal justice
Professor
Institution
Date

CRIME PUNISHMENT AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE
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IS AUSTRALIA A DENGEROUS STATE 3
QUESTION 5
Introduction
According to the law dictionary (2018), dangerous refers to any act that whose implication, on
a person, a nation, living things, or the world at larger, are harmful. This paper focuses on the
dangerousness or the adverse implications of the penal law taken by the Australian criminal and
justice law system upon the citizens and the non-citizens who live in the country. Penal code
refers to the policies and the statutes that the judicial system uses to counteract criminal activities
or punish those involved in the offensive acts.
The massive increase in the number of captives, detainees, suspects, and prisoners that are put
behind bars due to criminality illuminates the security of the nation as well as the dangers of
staying in Australia. Admittedly, one does not have to wait until he or she is involved in a
criminal situation or suspected for them to understand the alarm of security in the state. The
increase in the number of incarcerated citizens due to illegal activities and suspicions raises a
signal to the nation and the world. The most affected part of Australia is Perth, which has the
most alarming security issues in the country.
On the world scale of security comparison between nations, Australia is among the highly
ranked troubled countries. This insecurity comes as a result of the likelihood of undergoing a
harmful situation from the citizens, the tourists who visit the country or even the people with
mental issues and challenges. Therefore, it is admittedly true that Australia is a dangerous
country, although not as alarmingly hazardous as the United States of America. The world-scale
interstate criminal statics that compares the dangerousness between various nations base their
statistics on the rate of criminal commitments, seriousness of the illegal activities and the various

IS AUSTRALIA A DENGEROUS STATE 4
established reasons as to why the criminals committed those crimes. The reasons determine the
notion of the citizens and the danger of the penal law on the citizens.
Overall Imprisonment Statistics
Statistically, the incarceration rate in Australia is alarmingly rising, and this proves how much
dangerous residing in Australia is. According to Walker, at the beginning of the 20th century, the
rate of imprisonment was 126 residents for every 100,000 of the population (Walker et al.,
2014). These figures cause tension for the nation and the world because they had never happed in
the previous centuries. In 2013, Australia recorded a break of record of incarcerated people. The
number rose over 30,000 with the rate of incarceration being at 170 residents for every 100,000
of the population (Avery and Kinner, 2015). As of now, the rate increased to approximately 196
people for every 100,000 adults in the nation.
Statistics Analysis of imprisonments
Analytically, Australia recorded a 1% increase in the number of detentions between the years
2016 and 2017; this stipulated that approximately 414,000 residents were incarcerated. Towards
the end of 2017, the country records of imprisoned criminals inflated higher beyond 1% to
around 2% (Jewkes et al., 2016). For the past seven years, Australian youths’ criminal records
statistics increased surprisingly. The records show an approximation of 3.33% increase in the
number of youth prisoners. Most of the residents incarcerated in the Australian prisons
committed sexual assaults and illicit drug abuse. During the years 2008 and 2009, statistics from
the Bureau of Statistics of Australia (BSA) showed that estimably 375, 258 residents face the
actions of the police and the implementation of the penal law. These figures illuminated a 4.7%
increase in the number of people that the police took steps against (Sherwood and Kendall,
2013). Most of the prisoners in the country are of yogh age, between 10 to 19 years.

IS AUSTRALIA A DENGEROUS STATE 5
Gender Analysis of Imprisonment Statistics
On the gender statistics, approximately 84,000 women were imprisoned between the years
2008 and 2009. These records reflected an average of 6% increase in the number of women
prisoners as compared to the previous years. During the same period, the BSA records showed
that 290,450 men were in custody. These statistics on the number of male legal offenders
illuminated a% increase as compared to the previous years. Unfortunately, even up to date, the
rate of men imprisonment if worsening. According to Watson (2014), the men in custody had
been sentenced due to matters to do with public order interferences and physical torture resulting
in injuries. Moreover, estimably 30% of the women in detention were convicted due to theft
cases.
Australian Regions with High Insecurity
In the past five years, BSA statistics shows that Perth is leading in insecurity cases and has the
highest record of imprisonments in the nation. In the years 2015, Perth recorded a 2,300 prisoner
increase as compared to the previous year. Among the 2300 inmates, 1500 prisoners committed
robbery, property damage, and stealing of vehicles such as cars and motorbikes (Herring et al.,
2013). Moreover, Perth recorded a 34% approximated increase of prisoners sentenced to
domestic violence and assaults. This figure translated to a 954 increase in household issues
reported to the criminal and justice system in 2016 as compared to the years 2015. During the
same period of 2015-2016, Australia recorded an 11% record of repeated offenders’
imprisonment and a 41% increase in the prosecutable cases in the courts.
Comparison of Aboriginal and Non-native Residents Imprisonment Rates
There is an alarming representation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (ATSI) in the
Australian prisons, and this is dangerous to the nation’s security. Statistically, in 2014, Australia

IS AUSTRALIA A DENGEROUS STATE 6
recorded a comparably 13 times higher imprisonment of the ATSI individuals than the non.
Indigenous (Short, 2016). This figure reflects the various notion of the aboriginals towards the
national security and justice system as well as the economy. Short’s statistics also show that in
Western Australia, there is an 18 times likelihood of ATSI imprisonment as compared to the
non-indigenous. Moreover, the ATSI imprison rate is at four times greater than the ATSI
counterparts in Tasmania state.
Australian Threat on The Mentally Challenged
Australian penal law is also a threat to the mentally challenged citizens and non-citizens
foreigners in the nation. In most writer opinion and perspective works, Steiner and Woolderedge
(2013) being among the writers, Australian prisons serve as mental care institution in that they
host more mentally challenged individuals than the real mental health centers. Most of the
received people with psychological issues in the real centers come from the prisons; this shows
that there is a higher number of mentally challenged people in the prisons than the mentally
stable residents and that the nation is also dangerous to people with such challenges. According
to the Steiner, for every five incarcerations, two induvial have mental illness; this is so
unfortunate because, other than the nation supporting, treating and managing the mentally ill
individuals, it poses a hefty threat that mostly leads the psychologically sick into custody before
discovering their need for support.
Australia’s Dangerousness as Compared with Other Nations on the World Scale
Placing Australia on the world-scale of international imprisonment comparison, the nation is
notably among the top. According to Raphael and Stoll (2013) statistics, Canada has a rate of
118 imprisonments for every 100,000 residents. When compared to the Scandinavian countries,
the Australian standard of incarceration is three times higher. The same authors' analysis also

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proves that the United States of America is the only country that records the highest
imprisonment in the world. The USA incarceration rate is at 700 individuals for every 100,000
residents. The USA recorded a 400% increase in incarceration in the last three decades. Even
though the Australian imprisonment rate is not the highest, its incarceration rate is alarming and
reflects how much troubled and dangerous the nation is for the aboriginals, mentally, visitors and
generally humankind (Morris and Worral, 2014). In addition to the insecurity due to
imprisonment rate, the overall criminal and justice system, as well as the penal law, is also a
threat; this is because the effectiveness and efficiency of jurisdictions of court processes also
contribute to the dangerousness.
Conclusion
In summary, this paper illuminated the dangerousness of Australia penal law and criminal and
judicial system on the citizens and foreigners with statistics on threats on gender-based
imprisonments, the mentally challenged, the ATSI individuals and the population in their various
age groups. Moreover, the paper touched on the international comparison of Australian
incarceration rates as compared with the other nations in the globe. As a conclusion, Australia is
among the most unsafe countries to reside in the world. The alarming rate of imprisonments is
proof of how much rooted the nation is in criminal activities and the likelihood of bringing about
challenges for foreigners who wish to tour in the country.
Recommendation
The nation should carry out measures to taste the mental illness of the citizens and support
them other than incarcerating the mentally challenged. Moreover, the government should
undertake patriotism awareness campaigns to mobile the residents to live criminally free. The
nation can also create employment opportunities for those who are involved in theft case because

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if citizens earn enough, they will not commit robbery. The drug addicts who indulge in criminal
activities and pose threat to the national residential reputation should be rehabilitated; this will
change the critical factors into national assents.

IS AUSTRALIA A DENGEROUS STATE 9
References
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