Does The Australian Justice System Condone Such Barbarous Punishment?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3835644/Oodnadatta-man-Danny-Ferguson-jailed-speared-leg-brutal-manslaughter-girlfriend.html

/// He was sentenced to 15 years with a 12-year non-parole period, but also agreed to endure the spearing as part of a traditional Aboriginal punishment for his crime. ///

[jno]

ouch. I think you'll find this is nothing to do with the Australian justice system, it's private. And since he's agreed to it, the police aren't going to be spending a lot of time preventing it.

But ouch all the same.

[andy-hughes]

I think this is nothing to do with the Australian Justice System.

This is a cultural punishment, and since Mr Ferguson has undertaken to endure the punishment of his own free will, it would appear that no crime is being committed.

[youngmafbog]

So if a Sharia Court says someone should be stoned or loose a limb then it would be ok if the 'recipient' was ok with it? As it's cultural of course.

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// I think you'll find this is nothing to do with the Australian justice system. ///

Well by this statement by the Judge, it seems that it has.

*** She said his release date was so far away that the traditional punishment would not play a factor in her decision. ***

[andy-hughes]

YMB -//So if a Sharia Court says someone should be stoned or loose a limb then it would be ok if the 'recipient' was ok with it? As it's cultural of course. //

I am pleased that my 'Rule of So' is alive and well - by which I mean that if you are going to either completely misunderstand a point, or alternatively you are going to introduce something into the argument that has no bearing on what is being discussed - you must start your post with the word 'So'.

You cannot compare the two punishments - one because the second produces lasting harm, the former does not, and two because a Sharia law punishment is religious, not cultural.

[anotheoldgit]

I wonder how many of the Aboriginals who have metered out this 'cultural punishment' are they themselves pursued and later punished, under Australian Law?

[andy-hughes]

AOG - //I wonder how many of the Aboriginals who have metered out this 'cultural punishment' are they themselves pursued and later punished, under Australian Law? //

I believe the law on what is actually permissible in terms of one person inflicting physical harm on another person with that person's consent is complex, and the police would probably rather use their resources on more 'mainstream' crimes demanding their attention.

[Mamyalynne]

A little reading on the topic here, a very complicated and ongoing subject.

Lots to read on the web if you search.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customary_law_in_Australia

[anotheoldgit]

"One law for one and another for others", it would seem.

/// Traditional sanctions — spearing and other assaults — are still widely accepted in, for example, communities in Central Australia, and the use of these sanctions often does not result in charges being laid. In effect, the communities and the police give some de facto recognition to certain aspects of customary law. Those inflicting ‘traditional punishments’ generally know that they risk charges under Australian law but they and their communities have a reasonable expectation that only serious woundings are likely to result in court proceedings ///

http://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/21.%20Aboriginal%20Customary%20Laws%20and%20Sentencing/aboriginal-customary-laws-and-notion-%E2%80%98puni