BY DANI BARLEY
SYDNEY — Calling for an end to an alleged "significant disparity between public opinion and judicial sentencing conduct", NSW Premier Bob Carr has put forward new legislation that would enforce a maximum life sentence for gang rape.
He says there is a need for such legislation after three young men were sentenced "too lightly" for their part in the rape of two young women in Sydney's south-west last year.
But many, including civil libertarians and representatives of the city's migrant communities, which have been targeted in a vicious media campaign against "ethnic gangs", believe Carr is using public outrage as a tool, both to gain support in upcoming elections and to push through legislation giving police even greater powers.
The legislation coincidentally enough appeared in the immediate lead-up to the September 8 by-election in the western Sydney seat of Auburn, deemed to be a crucial test of the Carr government's re-election changes. A state election is due next year.
Ironically enough, the three men who supposedly provoked this new legislation would not have been convicted under it, for they were not convicted of gang rape.
Two of the men were plea bargained down to aggravated sexual assault and received six years' and five years seven months' prison. The third assailant did not rape either of the young women and received 18 months, but is currently out on parole.
Under the plea bargain agreement the facts in the case were changed so that the men would only be convicted on aggravated sexual assault.
Plea bargains are deemed preferential to trial convictions in rape cases because the victim's testimony is often considered unreliable. It is also considered "useful" to use plea bargains in rape cases because it speeds up the judicial process and saves court costs. Numerous cases have used this formula, often with light sentences handed out to the assailants.
Carr is trying to claim that his legislation will deter the rape of women.
But others say it will be ineffective and may actually harm more women. The president of the Law Society of New South Wales, Nick Meagher, has said, "If someone is facing the same maximum sentence for rape as for murder, then a 'what have I got to lose' mindset can certainly come into play."
"Worldwide experience, particularly in America and Britain, has shown that punitive sentencing as a deterrent simply doesn't work", he added. "Look at the number of people on death row in Texas — the numbers just keep increasing."