McGinty's truth-in-sentencing - the Spin and Reality

Attorney General erodes public confidence in the justice system

When introducing the "Truth-in-Sentencing" legislation into State Parliament in 2002, Labor Attorney General Jim McGinty said:

"The end result will be a more understandable and workable sentencing regime, which will increase community confidence in the sentencing process."

That was the spin. The "real" truth is the legislation shows McGinty was not only deceptive about this legislation, but also grossly incompetent as well. Far from McGinty's claim above, the legislation is confusing, unnecessarily complex, grossly misleading and down-right incompetent.

The real aim of this legislation was to reduce the rate of imprisonment, which seems to have been missed by former the Liberal Shadow Attorney General Sue Walker who handled the Bill.

More from McGinty during the debate:

"...the Government is currently progressing a range of reforms in the adult justice arena aimed at reducing the rate of imprisonment in Western Australia, known as the reducing imprisonment strategy."

The sham was there for all to see. The impression McGinty gave is that serious offenders would spend more time in gaol. Offenders would not automatically have their sentence cut by one-third and that they would, when released, continue on parole for the "remainder" of the original sentence.

After reading the legislation and debate, the Desert Rat can only conclude that Sue Walker and some others involved with the debate were very naive. They had the wool pulled over their eyes by McGinty. Why do they behave like underlings and hold this court jester in awe? They must really think Jim McGinty really is the Emperor of Western Australia.

Like Macavity the Mystery Cat, Attorney General Jim McGinty is hiding, and nowhere to be seen on this issue. He has gutlessly avoided any public comment on his embarrassing "Truth in Sentencing" fiasco - and offered no defence! He was uncontactable.

Read what McGinty said in the debate and try to separate the reality from the spin?

" ... the concept of truth in sentencing is enshrined in the two Bills. The current system of providing an automatic one-third remission of sentences is to be removed. Likewise, the current two-tiered parole eligibility date formula, which is often difficult to interpret and understand, will be removed. In their place will be a system whereby offenders will be under sanction for the whole of the sentence imposed by a court. For some offenders this will mean serving their whole sentence in prison. For others, parole will be a consideration, and if released from custody, the offender will be subject to a range of conditions for the remainder of his or her sentence."

What was a bad idea in the beginning has just got progressively worse. Even the title is redolent of McGinty spin, "truth-in-sentencing" - very different from reality where sentences for abominable crimes are now automatically cut by one-third.

The result is that more criminals, murderers and rapists are spending less time in gaol.