Brisbane Peace Convergence calls on Beattie to reject terror legislation changes

The Brisbane Peace Convergence (BPC) are calling on Premier Peter Beattie to reject the Federal governments proposed amendments to anti-terror laws. The BPC consider the changes to pose a threat to fundamental rights in a democratic society, including life, liberty and democratic action.

Howard's Anti-terror laws threaten human rights, democracy

Spokesperson for the BPC, Kim Stewart, says, "The Howard government is asking Labour premiers to collude with him in the suppression of our human rights.

"Howard's changes have already been roundly condemned by many groups as they fly in the face of the fundamental freedoms we take as granted in this country and as laid out in the International Declaration of Human rights.

"Not only that, the proposed changes also break the basic premise of law - that one shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty."

"Preventative detention, control orders with potentially unlimited time frames, the detention of children under 18 - all enacted without charge - are the kind of legislation one expects in a police state.

"Worryingly for engaged citizens, are changes to sedition laws that make it illegal to criticise the government other than in the courts. We think this change specifically targets people who use non-violent direct action, like peace activists."

"One of the expectations of the democratic process is that citizens can oppose unjust laws by peaceful civil disobedience. Reducing all challenge to the government to the courts prevents all but the rich from enacting change.

"We are calling on Premier Beattie to challenge Howard's dictatorialism. We all know how tragically wrong these laws can go - we have the UK subway shooting of an innocent, Abu-Garib prison in Iraq, and the tragedy of refugee detention in this country to remind us.

The Brisbane Peace Convergence is a network of community members working towards a more peaceful and compassionate society and opposed to militarisation and war. The Brisbane Peace Convergence confirms that freedom, justice and peace in the world are founded on our rights.

Media contact: Kim Stewart 0413 397 839

The Brisbane Peace Convergence will participate in Tuesday's picket of QLD Parliament, 4pm, October 25th, corner George and Alice Sts, City.

By BPC 25 October 05

Related:

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Spots and Stripes
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They know where you live
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When Terrorism Outlaws Democracy
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Australian government unveils legal framework for police state
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Peace Activist Agrees to be removed but challenges security review
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Anti-War Extremists Loyal to Scott
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Terrorgraph not quiet on 'Aussie militant' probe
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HICKS: Not a Happy Birthday!
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All the alleged terrorists are Muslims
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All the wicked witches in Pakistan?
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It's just not cricket: Khan
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Lawyer dismisses ASIO fishing raids as PR stunt
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Howard off to US, UK - part 5
PART-5- PRIME minister john hoWARd will meet US president george w buSHIT, British prime minister tony blair and queen 'imperialism' herself during a 10-day visit to the United States and the UK next month.

hoWARd, ruddock, ellison, keelty and news ltd plotted chaos
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Houses raided over 'possible' political attack plans?
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Is this our most dangerous Newspaper?
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HOSTAGES OF THE WAR ON TERROR
This forum will bring together legal representatives and victims of counter-terror, along with justice campaigners and organisations in order to share strategies for achieving justice for these men and the many other like them.

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The Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group & the Justice for Hicks & Habib Campaign welcome the statement by Amnesty International Secretary General Irene Khan, condemning the US Administration for condoning torture and the suppression of 'human rights' in their 'war on terror'.

Murdoch's war on truth in war reporting
People who remain to be convinced that cross-media laws are important to maintaining the fabric of our democracy need look no further than today's page one of The Daily Telegraph.

Chomsky signs on for justice
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If he'd been given his passport he'd be a free man
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Trial by unrelated video clips
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Accused Australian Citizen 'denied passport in 2002'?
AN AUSTRALIAN CITIZEN who was refused a passport by DFAT in mid-2002 became frustrated at the government for treating him differently.

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Noble Cause Torture?
AUSTRALIA: The Labor Party has decided not to support a Senate inquiry into new allegations made by Mamdouh Habib that the Australian Government cooperated with Egyptian intelligence authorities who he insists tortured him.

New account adds weight to interrogation claims
Australia/Cuba/Iraq: The fascist Federal Government is under further pressure today because Australians were involved in the interrogation of tortured Iraqi prisoners.

Australian senate accused govt of war crimes
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The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will seek to have an innocent Melbourne man Joseph 'Jack' Thomas, returned to isolation in custody?

Fascist Australian Govt torture exposed
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Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
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Lawyer blames police for Habib break-in
John HoWARd, Alexander Downer, Phillip Ruddock, Robert Hill, to name just a few....HOW DO YOU PLEAD?

No reason for Habib to sell story: Beazley?
Federal Agreement Leader Kim Beazley is a well-paid loser. A loser who supposed to be defending our democratic rights by standing up to the HoWARd Government's fascism.

Australia: a presumption of guilt......
KAREN PERCY: Two of Australia's leading barristers have seized on the return of Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mamdouh Habib, to launch an unprecedented attack on the Federal Attorney General, Philip Ruddock.

Aust Community criticises Govt for 'crimes'!
Australia: The Law Council of Australia is warning that the Federal Government must learn from its mistakes over Guantanamo Bay? Now that's a mistake!

Australian Govt Guilty of Crimes: Community
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What they did to Habib
Mamdouh Habib was the victim of atrocities fit for a concentration camp, including being tied to the ground while a prostitute menstruated on him, his lawyer said yesterday.

Innocent witch verballed by federal fascists!
Shame on the federal fascists. The wicked old witch is dead! A Melbourne Magistrates Court has heard that a 31-year-old innocent Victorian man was facing terrorism charges?

Innocent Victorian man held in custody for Xmas?!
Lawyers have argued the case against Mr Thomas was weak and based on a statement he made in Pakistan without a lawyer present and therefore unlawful.

Innocent Melbourne man makes second bail bid
Rubish, just plain propaganda, fear-mongering, draconian nonsence from the HoWARd goverment's war agenda stink tank.

MPs to review spy agency powers
Australian spy agency ASIO'S controversial powers to detain and question suspected terrorists [scapegoats for HoWARd's resource wars] will be re-examined by a parliamentary committee. Parliament passed the new counter-terrorism powers in July last year.

Goulburn Jail breaches UN standards
NSW: Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has called on Justice Minister John Hatzistergos to bring Goulburn Jail's Maximum Security Wing into line with United Nations standards, after a prison inmate's covert survey of his fellow inmates revealed problems with rehabilitation programs and basic amenities.

Lodhi toilet paper: crap!
He is facing nine charges and is accused of planning a major terrorist attack on Sydney defence sites and the electricity grid using downloads off the internet and having 100 rolls of toilet paper to wipe his arse after low level bombs and farts.

Community seeks more power to interrogate ASIO suspects
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Greens warn of 'politicised' terror trials
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Melbourne man charged over ASIO links
ASIO a know Australian terrorist organization is verballing the community again...about allegations that a man, while living overseas, received funds from Al Qaeda and had close association with the members of the terrorist group.

DING DONG! THE WITCH IS DEAD
A court has been told Joseph Thomas is a sleeper? ZZZ! Melbourne Australia: A court has been told that Osama bin Laden asked a Melbourne man to become a "sleeper" in Australia before undertaking activities for the Al Qaeda network? Munchkins: "Ding Dong! The Witch is dead. Which old Witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead."

AFP: The unlikely CRIMINAL
It was born of a bombing and it made its name after a far more devastating act of terrorism. But for most of the 25 years in between, little was known about the Australian Federal Police force or the work it did.

Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes
Complaint to Australian law officers about Australian Federal Government complicity in war crimes.

There is no justification for torture
In the weeks since the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison were revealed, evidence continues to seep out of similar mistreatment of prisoners in other US military detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

Howard rejects spy agency overhaul
Prime Minister John Howard has played down the need for a major overhaul of Australia's spy agencies as a result of an inquiry by former intelligence officer Phillip Flood.

Mamdouh Habib: Taunted and Tortured!
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He was an undercover agent for the blues
He was my journalist, he was working undercover. The fellow knew all of the moves.... He really had me romping, bare footing stomping. He just kept igniting my fuse....

Up there Khasali: Innocent man new bail laws
The New South Wales Supreme Court has asked innocent man Bilal Khazal to increase to amount of surety offered, before the bail is formally continued.

HEY! BIG BROTHER? LET INNOCENT PEOPLE GO!
Young men terrorised, tortured, and threatened with charges for no crime by Australia mate the lucky country. Lucky if you're not used for Howard's FEDERAL ELECTION and George Dubya's WAR ON LIBERTY! Who shot liberty? IGNORANCE!

Ul-Haque 'the man who wants to become a doctor'
The taskforce is investigating French man Willie Brigitte, who was tipped back home for a visa breach. Allegedly the Un-Australian Newspaper claimed he also attended training camps before his six-month stay in Sydney. Police have not alleged Mr Ul-Haque knew Brigitte. The Un-Australian just mentioned it because they are 'you guessed it' up John Howard's butt and they like the USA want 'you guessed it' our Federal Government. Well Yankee go home!

Brain injury for suspicion 'inhumane'
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Keelty foresees more terrorism
Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says terrorist groups will continue to find new ways to threaten countries.

Daily Terror rolled-over for Howard's war games
The DAILY TERROR is suspected of being the source of the news this morning that Willie Brigitte is a terrorist and that Sydney faces a bomb attack.

Lawyer claims Al Qaeda suspect's evidence tainted!
Before returning to Australia last year, Thomas was arrested and held in custody for five months by Pakistani authorities before being released without charge.

Man terrorised by ASIO remanded in 'AA' isolation!
A Victorian man has been remanded in custody after being charged with terrorism offences, including having links to Al Qaeda?

Ruddock foreshadows new terrorism laws
The new laws will allow police to access emails and mobile phone SMS messages, enable wider use of surveillance devices, and protect sensitive national security information during terrorism trials.

Islamic movement denies links to Al Qaeda
The Islamic Youth Movement has denied having any links to Al Qaeda and says it is considering legal action against the Four Corners program. In a statement released early this morning, the group rejects allegations it is helping coordinate any kind of terrorist network inside Australia and says it is being unfairly targeted.

2nd Renaissance -10 The War on Witches [150]
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a Papal Bull that became the rationale for establishing the Inquisition in Germany. The following excerpt from the Bull sets out the official view of the danger of witches to the community. The Bull and this this passage provided the sole excuse for the torture and cruel executions that were, ultimately, to be the fate of up to fifty percent of the population of some villages.

He has an active ministry in prison

Dr Gordon Moyes Superintendent Wesley Mission & Part of the Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership?

Bronson Blessington: was the youngest person to be sentenced to life imprisonment since the transportation ended in 1840.

CRIMES (SENTENCING PROCEEDURE) AMENDMENT (EXISTING LIFE SENTENCES) BILL

Second Reading

The Hon. Tony Kelly: (Minister for Rural Affairs, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Emergency Services, and Minister for Lands) The Government has continually stated that it would protect the community forever from never-to-be-released prisoners.

The Government has in the past amended sentencing legislation to make it perfectly clear that not withstanding the provisions of the 1989 legislation, in the case of a very small number of offenders where the courts had previously recommended that an offender should never be released, that recommended should be enforced.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court in R v Blessington has held that an offender with a section 13A application that was pending as at 8 May 1997 is not subject to the present rules for redetermination.

The decision also canvassed the possibility that Blessington (and by extension, any others who have not yet had their application determined) might now be able to appeal the sentencing court's recommendations that they never be released. They would therefore be excluded from the application of the current regime for redetermination of those never to released offenders.

The Government believes that the intention of the legislation past by this Parliament was clear.

We have sought advice from the Solicitor General, who has advised that there is some prospect of a successful appeal.

But the people of NSW, and the Balding family, deserve certainty. Both the Solicitor General and the Director of Public Prosecutions believe that the best way to deliver that certainty and remove ambiguity is through an appropriate legislative amendment.

This will ensure that the current regime works uniformly and that all never to be released prisoners will:

* not be eligible to have their sentence redetermined until they have served at least 30 years;

* if a non-parole period is fixed on a redetermination, the offender may not receive a fixed term; and

* that where a non-parole period is fixed on a redetermination, parole cannot be granted except where the offender is in imminent danger of dying (or is incapacitated to the extent that he or she no longer has the physical ability to do harm to any person) and has demonstrated that he or she does not pose a risk to the community.

The amendments proposed in schedule 2 ensure that section 15A of the Crimes (Administration of Sentences) Act 1999 applies to a 'never to be released' offender regardless of whether the non-release recommendation has been quashed, set aside, or called into question.

The amendments remove any possible ambiguity in relation to the application of the law in respect of any particular offender.

The Hon David Clarke: This bill, which is supported by the Opposition, amends the Crime (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 so as to overcome the effect of the decision given on15 April 2005 in the case of Blessington v The Queen, thereby achieving the Government's commitment to keep Bronson Blessington, and people like him, indefinitely locked up. The background circumstances are that in 1990 Bronson Blessington, then aged 14, was convicted of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of Janine Balding.

As a result in sentencing legislation passed in 1989, offenders serving life sentences could apply to the court after eight years for a defined sentence with a minimum and additional term. In more recent years amendments to sentencing legislation relating to inmates subject to a non-release recommendation have been introduced which provide that the period before which an application for a redetermination application could be made was at least 30 years.

When the Minister for Police, Mr Whelan, introduced the Sentencing Legislation Further Amendment Bill in 1997 he described Blessington as representing "pure evil".

Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes: I speak on behalf of the Christian Democratic Party on the Crimes (Sentencing Procedures) Amendment (Existing Life Sentences) Bill. These amendments seek to ensure that the current regime for redetermination of existing life sentences of "never to be released" offenders extends to all those offenders whose original sentences have not been redetermined, and applies to those offenders even if theoriginal non-release recommendations are now appealed. I commend the bill to the House.

I acknowledge that the Hon. Peter Breen knows more about Bronson Blessington than anybody in this Chamber because of his close professional association with him.

However, I take Beverly Balding's point that Bronson was capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong.

I took calls over a long period of time on talk back radio and I found not one comment from the community at large in support of Bronson Blessington's early release. By the age of 14 he had been sexually abused by four adult males, was a street kid, an alcoholic, a petrol sniffer, and basically uncontrollable. I have been informed on good, reliable authority from those who work within the prison system that when he became a Christian in 1990 his life very dramatically changed.

In his speech the member for Wagga Wagga, Mr Daryl Maguire, referred to some comments made by Beverly Balding, the mother of Janine Balding.

"Although Blessington was 14 (one month off 15 years of age), he was an uncontrollable child, and had been on the streets for quite some time before he and the others took part in Janine's horrific rape and murder. There is no excuse whatsoever for what they did, and they were all old enough to know right from wrong."

Over the past 14 years or so his Christian life has made Bronson and outstanding model prisoner. He has said that the Lord has led him to lead more than 580 Bible studies within prison yards, with an attendance well over 5,500 prisoners. I commend him on the step that he has taken to invite Christ into his life. Staff of mine from Wesley Mission, who go within the prison system, speak most highly of his complete change of life through his Christian commitment.

His Christian witness in prison will continue to be powerful witness of the power of Christ to change people. If Blessington is preaching to prisoners, I would encourage him to keep on doing so. But can he continue to be a Christian in gaol? That is what Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul, the apostles Peter and John, and a million other twentieth century Christians have done.

I wish Mr Blessington well in his continuing experience as a Christian within gaol. The Hon Dr Arthur Chesterfield Evens: The result is that if an appeal against this bill were made to the High Court by Blessington, the appeal would be ruled against, as occurred in Baker v The Queen.

It therefore falls to the member of this Parliament to override the courts if we will. That is a sad state of affairs. I do not believe I have sufficient knowledge to overrule the courts. I think it is extraordinarily arrogant of us to be voting on a bill such as this when we have heard not a thing from Blessington.

The Hon Peter Breen: Not a word.

The Hon Dr Arthur Chesterfield Evens: Despite these circumstances, we are asked to overrule the courts as if they are nothing. I repeat this is a sad state of affairs. If past this bill will retrospectively take away the right of this prisoner to have his sentence redetermined. We are overriding the courts. On what do we base any such decision? Not on serious knowledge, I put to the honourable members of this House.

No-one doubts the abhorrence of the events surrounding the death of Janine Balding, and no-one doubts that Blessington was guilty. I note the comments of the Reverend the Hon Dr Gordon Moyes, who spoke about the fact that Bronson Blessington has turned to Christ and that people within the gaol system have noticed an immense change in him.

I was rather surprised in that circumstance Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes did not say he would forgive Blessington. I had thought from the way the honourable member spoke that he might have come to that position. Indeed from my recollection of the Bible, Jesus Christ forgave sinners on the cross.

Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes did not express such forgiveness; rather, he pointed to public opinion expressed to him on talk- back-radio. My own view is that we should not act according to what is said on talk- back-radio. Our job is to lead the country, not follow opinions. We must be aware of opinions heard on talk-back-radio. If we are not, presumably that is at our own peril. We need to do better than that.

The Democrats oppose bills that operate retrospectively against individuals. I believe we do so without detracting from the suffering of the Balding family.

The Hon. Peter Breen: I speak against the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Existing Life Sentences) Bill. All week I have been waiting for the Daily Telegraph to do a story on this bill, the object of which is to keep Bronson Blessington in gaol "forever", to use the word of the Attorney General in the other place. Certainly, that is the Government's intention.

Yesterday I thought the story appeared on page 17 when I read the headline "Dig deep to find the cure for a killer." To my surprise, the article was about heart disease, and seeking donations to the Peter Frilingos appeal.

The headline would have been appropriate for a story about the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Amendment (Existing Life Sentences) Bill because the Government is digging deep, in fact, that the ground under the Government's feet on this bill is too hot even for the law and order lobby.

The Daily Telegraph has not written one word on the bill. Bronson Blessington was no ordinary offender. When he murdered Janine Balding by drowning her in a dam at Minchinbury in 1988 he was 14 years old with the mental capacity of a 9 year old or 10 year old. His mental condition gave rise to a classic case of diminished responsibility, but the defence was never pleaded at his trial. -- a fact that the trial judge drew attention to in his sentencing remarks.

I wrote to Blessington's lawyers asking them why the defence of diminished responsibility was not raised, and they could not recall. Indeed, they could not recall any discussions about the issue of diminished responsibility.

The sentencing judge also observed that the mental condition affecting Bronson Blessington was a temporary disorder of adolescence, and that the boy had good prospects of recovery.

Indeed, the judge also observed that the boy was already making excellent progress towards rehabilitation in juvenile detention while he was awaiting trial.

Sentencing judges make those kinds of observations all the time. Sometimes they are prophetic; at other times what they predict turns out to be quite wrong. In the case of Bronson Blessington, everything the sentencing judge said turned out to be true. The boy recovered from his temporary mental disorder, he did well in rehabilitation and, as Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes pointed out, at age 17 Blessington converted to Christianity while he was still in juvenile detention. He studied by correspondence at theMoore Theological College.

Reverend the Hon. Fred Nile: He has a ministry in prison.

The Hon Peter Breen: He has an active ministry in prison. I cannot imagine anyone else being in a position to approach prisoners in the way he does. He goes out into the yard with his Bible and says, "Anyone for scripture?"

People gather around; it is an extraordinary ministry. Bronson Blessington is living proof that children who make mistakes literally grow out of their problems, that juvenile offenders can be rehabilitated and that giving people a second chance is a sentencing principle that lies at the heart of a justice system that evolved from a penal colony. These are the reasons the legislation before the House today did not get a run in the Daily Telegraph. [this week 5 May 2005].

Bronson Blessington was the youngest person to be sentenced to life imprisonment since the transportation ended in 1840.

Murder committed in New South Wales prior to 1990 carried a life sentence unless the trial judge was satisfied that mitigating circumstances significantly diminished the prisoner's culpability for the crime. In practice a life sentence did not mean natural life as a prisoner could apply to the Supreme Court after eight years to convert the life sentence to a fixed term.

Approximately 250 lifers indicted before 1990 have applied for fixed- term sentences to replace their life sentences, and so far 225 of them have been successful. In 1990 the average life sentence served for murder was 15 years.

As part of its tougher approach to crime and punishment, the Government changed the law in 1990. To what is called truth in sentencing legislation of 1989. Which came into effect on 12 January 1990. As a result of that legislation, a life sentence now means for the term of a prisoner's natural life.

I have a longstanding interest in Bronson Blessington and his convicted co-offender, Stephen "Shorty" Jamieson, who was a victim of foetal alcohol syndrome and a person who was almost certainly innocent of the crimes for which he stands convicted. It was a bizarre case of mistaken identity. Both Blessington and Jamieson have now served 16.5 years in prison.

The bill before the House is directed solely directed at Bronson Blessington, who made a successful application before Justice Dunford in the Supreme Court and judgement was delivered on 15 April 2005.

It seemed to me that this young man had paid for his crimes and deserved a second chance to give something back to society. Bronson Blessington was partly raised by his paternal grandparents, Mat and John Blessington, who were field officers for the Salvation Army.

Visiting the child prisoner, initially at the juvenile detention centres and later in the adult prisons, Mat Blessington and Jack Begnall became good friends, and today they are both resolute and forthright men -- even at over 70 years of age -- praying ceaselessly for the salvation of Bronson. The assistant pastor reminded me that Christianity is tailor made for prisoners, offering them hope. Jesus Christ himself was a prisoner, as Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes has pointed out. He was despised, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, and one from whom we avert our gaze, to paraphrase the prophet Isaih.

Jack said. "God forgives even the greatest sinners, and this is the liberating power of Christianity. Many prisoners who previously had no knowledge of God and led aimless lives find their liberation in prison through the gift of faith. I suggest to the assistant pastor that many inmates who have suffered injustice and oppression identify with the counter-cultural and revolutionary Jesus who lurks at the heart of Christianity."

Prosecution and defence lawyers have opposing tasks; one seeks a conviction and the other seeks an acquittal. Police assist the prosecution and play a critical role in deciding what will be investigated and how the evidence is presented to juries, for the most part, are kept in the dark about the bargaining that goes on between the prosecution and the defence over the evidence.

But when it comes to sentencing the judge, as sole arbiter of the fate of a prisoner, ought to have the benefit of all of the facts, and those facts ought to form the basis of the prisoner's sentence. That is one of the problems with Parliament deciding sentences. We have to do it in the context of a debate. How can we make a judgment about the life of a person without getting the facts?

A psychiatrist, Dr Clark said the youth suffered from "a conduct disorder of adolescence", a defined medical condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The psychiatrist concluded that the boy suffered from an abnormality of mind "which was present at the time of the offence" and "fits the criteria for a defence of diminished responsibility".

After quoting the report Justice Newman said, "I might add this defence was at no stage raised during the course of the trial". In the very next sentence he observed that the condition diagnosed by the psychiatrist is transient and the good doctor expected it to be resolved in time.

The Judge said, "On the basis of this Dr Clark held out the strong hope that the boy Blessington is capable of being rehabilitated". Then the judge referred to the reports from the Department of Youth and Community Services indicating Bronson had already made "excellent progress" in the juvenile detention centre while awaiting trial.

This was when Bronson was 17.

By God 21 May 05

Related:

Putting your Family First?

(This following link has now been removed from gov't website now updated 18 April 2009.)

The Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership

"Working in partnership not only has the potential to enrich people's lives but can also deliver tangible results for all Australians. Community and business partnerships are a driver to accomplish better outcomes than any group acting alone could achieve."

The Hon. John Howard, MP, the Prime Minister of Australia and Reverend The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC, MLC Superintendent Wesley Mission?

Photo Source: Reverend The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC, MLC Superintendent Wesley Mission from that site.

However, some of that material now posted on another website without the photos:

Prime Minister's Community Business Partnership

Related Links:

PETITION
To Her Excellency the Honourable Marie Bashir, AC, Governor of New South Wales. WHEREAS, under the Royal prerogative of mercy Your Excellency has discretion to grant a pardon to a convicted offender. WHEREAS, Bronson Matthew Blessington was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on 18 September 1990. At the time of committing the offence Bronson Blessington was a juvenile aged 14 years and he is the youngest person sentenced to life imprisonment in New South Wales since transportation ended in 1840.

Bronson Blessington: Testimony from my prison cell
Before my conversion in 1990 I was completely illiterate, extremely fearful of all adults due to the fact, I had been sexually abused by four adult males. I lived in a fantasy world, crying out for someone to love me and looking for somewhere to belong. By the age of 14 I was an alcoholic and a petrol sniffer and basically uncontrollable. I only write this so you have some idea of where I was at when God reached deep into my soul and washed me clean with the blood of Christ.

NSW Prisoner speaks out
Hello my name is Bronson Blessington. I am writing this letter to you in the hope that you will be able to give me some assistance. I have been in prison now for 15 and 1/2 years. I was given a life sentence when I was 14 years old.

Court dismisses man set-up for Stuttle murder appeal?

QLD's Bundaberg's Burnett River traffic bridge was the only witness to this crime.

AUSTRALIA: QLD: In the Supreme Court in Bundaberg last October, Ian Douglas Previte, 32, was jailed for life after being convicted of the murder and robbery of Caroline Stuttle, 19.

Mr Previte lodged the application in the Court of Appeal in Brisbane on the grounds that the trial judge erred by allowing evidence from a handwriting expert and two other witnesses to be admitted during the trial last year but has had his appeal against conviction dismissed?

The original trial was told she had been thrown from the Burnett Bridge during a struggle for her handbag in Bundaberg, 350km north of Brisbane, on April 10, 2002.

Previte appealed on several grounds, including that Justice Peter Dutney had been wrong to admit evidence of handwriting experts and taped confessions and the convictions were unsafe and unsatisfactory.

But after considering submissions, three Supreme Court justices found the jury verdict was safe and dismissed Previte's appeal?

Mr Previte is serving life in prison.

Experts gave evidence at the trial on whether a confession found on a wooden bench in a Bundaberg park was written by Previte. The confession read: "I Throw The Girl of the Brige I am sorry" (sic)? [Rubbish!]

Some letters written by Previte to his family were used in comparison tests. In one letter, Previte admitted "knowing someone in every jail in Queensland" and in another he vented his anger against a family member? [They had him in custody and chose to exploit his communication to attain some alleged confession planted on a wooden bench.]

Bent police

Justice Cate Holmes said she had concerns about the letters when there appeared to have been "abundant" other material for tests?

"It may not loom so large here but it is not an attractive approach," she said.

[To exploit any prisoner in custody like that is not justice it is a blatant frame-up by the ruling class.]

Justice Holmes said for her part the letters couldn't be described as anything but prejudicial, however, there did not appear to have been any objections to them going into evidence at the trial?

Mr Hunter said the prejudice of the letters' contents far outweighed their probative value, and a direction should have been given on the use the jury could make of them.

Mr Hunter said there were discrepancies in the evidence which meant Previte's [alleged] confessions to a fellow prisoner, and later police, should not have been admitted into evidence????

[To exploit any prisoner in custody like that is not justice it is a blatant frame-up by the ruling class.]

Director of Public Prosecutions Leanne Clare said the unsafe and unsatisfactory ground came down to the reliability of Previte's police interview????????

"There is no evidence as to why he would have made a false confession," she said?

[Oh yes there is, try a bent country, corporations, corporate media, the billion dollar tourist industry, bent police and a ruling class that doesn't give a rats arse about its citizenry or the truth, accept for maintaining 'tourism dollars' at the expense of natural justice. And he's not the only one whose been set-up in this way.]

By Injustice 8 April 05

Related:

Man framed for Stuttle murder to appeal
How much weight should be given on the evidence of prison authorities and prison informers who assist police, to obtain alleged evidence in unscrupulous ways, to secure a conviction once a person has been sent to prison pending a hearing to determine their guilt? ZIP!

Douglas Previte set-up for Stuttle murder
Australia: A 32-year-old man has been jailed for life for murdering British backpacker Caroline Stuttle in Bundaberg in south-east Queensland on alleged evidence possibly trumped up while he was in prison?

Tourist Industry Crime and Trial By Media Coincidences

MILAT WAS FRAMED FOR TOURISM $$$$$ AND THE WINNER IS? NOT IVAN MILAT! The murders were headlines overseas. The State government's public relations machine swung into action. An unprecedented $500,000 reward was offered for the heads of the perpetrators. (Commonsense says there was more than one assailant). Head of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Samaranch, was questioning whether Australia was a safe place to visit.

Ivan Milat loses conviction appeal
Ivan Milat today lost an application in the High Court to appeal against his 1996 conviction for murdering seven backpackers. The 59-year-old had sought special leave to appeal the murder convictions and one count of detaining a person for advantage without legal representation, which includes Legal Aid.

Day set aside for Falconio forensic evidence
More than a day has been set aside in the case of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio to hear evidence from a Northern Territory forensic scientist. Yesterday the Darwin Magistrates Court heard from mechanics and friends of the defendant Bradley John Murdoch.

Mr Bradley Murdoch to go on trial next year!
The alleged man is not the alleged Falconio killer in my book. He's alleged to have committed a crime but the Faloconio mystery remains a secret to be unlocked by time itself and more interestingly may never be unlocked at all.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Ch/9 News? Or Ch/9's Department of Public Prosecutions?
Bradley Murdoch committal, lawyer calls for fair hearing
The lawyer of the man accused of murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio has spoken to the media in Darwin.

Peter Beattie nominated as Australian of the year: Howard
Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.

Tourist dollar drives set-up for crime
The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.

Supreme Court rejects Nine appeal
CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.

Falconio magistrate closes court
THE hearing into the murder of British tourist Peter Falconio has been closed to the public. Magistrate Alasdair McGregor has closed the court for part of the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees.

Innocent until proven guilty? Not in Australia's outback!
There is no way that Bradley John Murdoch can get a fair trial in the Northern Territory. The entire jury pool is already contaminated, the general public have accepted the verdict of the Northern Territory News and the NT Police State has turned on the cone of silence. Maybe some of the reporters might want to ask Director of Public Prosecutions Rex Wilde QC just how he is going to secure a conviction when a body has not been found. Surely the NT bureaucracy learnt from the Lindy Chamberlain case that it is not a good idea to jail someone for murder when you haven't got a body. Maybe they have the same people working on the case. The NT Police forensic team certainly do.

Taken "A Dingo Took My Baby!"
They were the words that Lindy Chamberlain had screamed out into the blackness of the cold night in a camping ground close to Ayers Rock, Central Australia, on the night of August 17, when she discovered that her nearly ten-week-old baby, Azaria had been taken by a dingo.

Man Says He Shot Dingo That Snatched Baby SYDNEY, Australia (July 5) - A distraught mother's scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. An elderly man's claim that he retrieved the infant's bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and - if true - could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain's body.

Australia to see the light on tourism
A total of $120 million has been earmarked for the campaign's international marketing, which tops up the Australian Tourist Commission's annual budget of $90 million. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.

Ten reports $76.9 million profit
The Ten television network has reported a full-year profit of $76.9 million. Even if it were down by half on the previous year they're still greedy self-interested people who care little about the real damage done, not just in Australia but the world. That profit is obviously on top of wages and expenses yet they're still greedy enough to turn the news upside down to suit the Howard government's investment in advertising.

LIFE ON A THREAD:

The difference between life and death can rest on the whim of a president or the ability of a lawyer. Whether or not the death penalty can be justified is very much up for grabs.

American writer and anti-capital punishment campaigner Richard North Patterson, was in Australia recently and says, though it hardly needs to be said, that proof of innocence is neither of use nor consolation to someone after they have been executed. All it can do is further fuel the motivation of those fighting for the abolition of capital punishment.

North Patterson believes capital punishment to be an abomination on a moral and judicial scale, a practice prone to corruption, error and ego.

The further her trial progresses, the more two schools of thought emerge about Gold Coast woman Schapelle Corby.

In Australia, the prevailing view is that she is innocent, being forced to sit and wait in a hot, crowded Indonesian prison cell located tantalisingly close to the beaches and other tourist settings she had left Australia to enjoy.

Supporters contend Corby not only is a victim of someone else's cruel trickery, but could become a sacrificial lamb paying for growing anti-Western sentiment within Indonesia's chiefly Muslim society.

The view from Indonesia, however, is that Corby is little more than a brazen opportunist, whose attempt to smuggle 4.1kg of cannabis into Bali last year in a boogie board bag protected only by its zipper, represents the height of arrogance, stupidity or both.

Corby is enmeshed in a legal system the workings of which can be incomprehensible to outsiders. All that is clear, and brutally so, is the possible result - the taking of her life, even if she is innocent.

North Patterson's latest novel, 'Conviction' uses fiction to expose the inadequacies, injustice and inequity of American death penalty law. In its comprehensive dissection of the American legal system, Conviction also can be read as a lesson to other governments and a plea for them, including Australia, not to consider the re-introduction of capital punishment.

While the brevity of his Australian stay did not allow North Patterson to become fully apprised of the Schapelle Corby case, the depth of his study and lobbying in the U.S. allows him to speak about its potential outcome.

"Some people say capital punishment legislation in the U.S. is incompetent. I'm not so sure. Lawyers are incompetent, not the law, because if the goal of the law is finality, even for the innocent, then achieving that goal through an execution is hardly incompetent," he says.

"But there are so many misconceptions about the death penalty that need to be addressed in order to change opinion that capital punishment is an appropriate measure.

"For starters, the American legal system is one that has many examples of people being put to death and later found not to have committed the crime. That is horrifying, but perhaps even worse is the feeble excuse that killing a few innocent people is an acceptable price to pay for getting the rest who are guilty.

"Secondly, the American legal system has too many lawyers who are either poseurs, hustlers or just plain incompetent. And there are not many lawyers prepared to defend the poor in capital punishment cases."

"Thirdly, too many Americans continue to convince themselves that capital punishment is a deterrent to violent crime. If it was, then Texas, for example, would be the safest place in the world. Take it from me, it's not."

North Patterson's mention of the U.S. state of Texas is deliberate. When American President George W. Bush was governor of the Lone Star state, he did not so much increase the number of executions as install an express lane.

Violent crime, however, did not diminish in the slightest, and of the 38 U.S. states with death penalty statutes, Texas executes more often than any other.

Conviction is set in San Francisco 12 years after two brothers, Rennell and Payton Price, have been sentenced to death for the killing of an 11-year-old girl. As the execution date looms, overworked lawyer Teresa Paget, her husband Chris and Harvard law graduate and stepson Carlo become convinced that Rennell Price did not receive a fair trial, may not have been mentally competent to stand trial in the first place, had a lousy lawyer and might actually be innocent.

As North Patterson said in a previous interview: "Probably the No.1 contributor to death sentences is a terrible lawyer."

'Conviction' is a rivetting legal thriller from a writer who started his professional life as a trial lawyer in Washington and San Francisco. He then became an assistant attorney-general for the state of Ohio, before working as the liaison to the special prosecutor for the Watergate hearings in the 1970s, which helped bring down President Richard Nixon.

Among North Patterson's 12 best-selling novels are Degree of Guilt, No Safe Place, Balance of Power and The Final Judgment. He also serves on the boards of several Washington-based advocacy groups dealing with political reform, reproductive rights, gun violence and capital punishment.

Linking gun violence and capital punishment, North Patterson points out how American law is all-embracing in one context, yet apparently selective in the other.

"The right to bear arms, to own guns, is right up there near the front of the American Constitution, yet our gun laws have become idiotic," he says. "These laws make it possible for murderers, abusers, drug traffickers, you name it, to have guns.

The American passion for guns is such that it is possible to own any gun you want. The foolish belief is that guns make us safer, as if a bar full of armed drunks is safe. What kind of thinking is that? The nightly news is full of examples of the folly of our gun laws," he says.

Yet strangely, America's constitutionally approved right for everyone to own a gun is an example of democracy at work. In the case of the death penalty, however, democracy and equality are less visible, a point well made in 'Conviction'.

"Individual crimes must be punished, of course," says North Patterson. "But the U.S. death penalty is a classic example of the inequities within American society.

Death row cases in the U.S. are dominated by the
disenfranchised - blacks, Hispanics, the poor, people of substandard mentality, people with lack of opportunities in life, victims of abuse. They are also the people who cannot afford the best legal representation and so, as occurs in 'Conviction', they suffer from an incompetent defence," he says.

"If that's not bad enough, the final nail in their coffin - so to speak - comes in the form of community attitudes that say `Well, these are not worthwhile people to begin with, so what does it really matter if they're executed?'"

"Implicit in that attitude is a sense, a belief, that even if a person didn't commit this particular crime for which they are to be executed, they would have committed a similar crime sooner or later, so the death penalty is vindicated."

Then there is the scapegoat theory, which finds a person being made an example for social or political reasons, for the need for justice to be seen to be done. It is into this category that many fear Schapelle Corby has fallen.

While it serves nothing and no one to compare one country's legal system with another, compounding Corby's woes is the level of bitterness currently bouncing between Indonesia and Australia over the two-and-a half-year prison sentence recently given to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his alleged role in the Bali bombings of October, 2002.

Such ill feeling is a component of the ever-broadening division between Islam and the West since the events of September 11, 2001, and which have led to the ongoing debacle in Iraq, an increase in fundamentalist-inspired terrorism and the rise of the kind of ultra-right wing thinking that saw President George W. Bush and Australian Prime Minister John Howard re-elected so profoundly.

"It's a worry," says North Patterson. "The rise of the right wing makes it difficult to make headway in the fight for reforms on capital punishment, although that doesn't mean you stop fighting."

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AROUND THE WORLD:

Stats from 2004 reveal a sharp rise in the application of capital punishment around the world, although it is likely verifiable figures fall well short of the reality.

Executions by shooting were carried out last year in Afghanistan, China, Indonesia, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen, either by firing squad or a single bullet to the back of the head.

Hanging was prevalent, with executions in Bangladesh, Egypt, Iran, India, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan and Singapore. Most of the 157 verifiable hangings last year were by the short drop method, although Iran continues to execute people by hoisting them into the air by crane (includes a 16-year-old girl, Ateqeh Rajabi, for her crime of premarital sex).

Saudi Arabia remains the only country where beheading is an official form of punishment, while lethal injection was the primary process in the United States.

Countries in which verifiable executions took place in 2004: Afghanistan - 1 shot; Bangladesh - 12 hanged; China - 24 shot and 193 injected; Egypt - 6 hanged; India - 1 hanged; Indonesia - 3 shot; Iran - 95 hanged; Japan - 2 hanged; Jordan - 1 hanged; Kuwait - 9 hanged; Lebanon - 2 shot and 1 hanged; Pakistan - 10 hanged; Saudi Arabia - 36 beheaded; Singapore - 4 hanged; United States - 58 injected and 1 electrocuted; Uzbekistan - 2 shot; Vietnam - 44 shot; Yemen - 1 shot.

(source: Gold Coast Bulletin, Australia)

(picture: Capital Punishmet)

By ACADP and Just Us posted 22 March 05

******************************************
AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
* ACADP Incorporated *
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The Premier Australian Internet
Resource on Capital Punishment

Related:

THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK:
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USA - FEELING THE HEAT FROM INTERNATIONAL FIRE:
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Corby lawyer pleads for Australian help
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THE INNOCENT SCOT ON DEATH ROW IS ALMOST FREE
If you haven't heard about it yet, you will. There's a celebration in the air: Kenny is an innocent man living on death row in an Ohio prison and the authorities may finally acknowledge what we've known all along.

EXPENSES FOR STATE-ASSISTED SUICIDE EXCEEDS $33,000.00
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Child Offenders on Death Row
Recent Australian studies of alcohol and cannabis use show that girls are increasingly inclined to behave boldly. But boys out number the girls, two to one; and three to one in the juvenile justice system, mortality figures, speeding infringements and car crash statistics.

US death row numbers don't change policy?
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Despite Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates
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How Denying the Vote to Ex-Offenders Undermines Democracy
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DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

Our Two Priority Bills sent to White House
US: The 8th National CURE Convention last June lobbied on Capitol Hill the Innocence Protection Act in the Senate and the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act of 2004 in the House. On Sunday, October 10th, Congress passed both bills and sent them to the President to be signed.

THE LAW IS AN ASS:
US: A Californian man who beheaded a german shepherd dog he had named after his girlfriend, has been sentenced to 25 years to life under California's three-strikes law.

SAVE THE LIFE OF NGUYEN TUONG VAN:A PLEA TO SINGAPORE PRESIDENT On behalf of the Australian Coalition Against Death Penalty (ACADP) and in the spirit of respect for human life, I make a heartfelt plea for clemency, compassion and mercy, to spare and save the young life of Nguyen Tuong Van, currently under sentence of death at Changi Prison in Singapore. Nguyen Tuong Van, is a 23-year-old Australian man of Vietnamese origin. Nguyen was arrested at Changi Airport in December 2002, whilst in transit from Cambodia to Australia. He was later charged and convicted of drug-trafficking. In March 2004 he was sentenced to death for his crime.

EXTRADITION ACT FLUSHED DOWN THE TOILET
A long-standing convention not to extradite people out of Australia if they face the death penalty has been abandoned.

BIRTHDAY PROTEST BACKS INNOCENT MAN ON DEATH ROW:
Kids from 3 to 83 years old beat candy labeled "Justice" out of a big Texas-shaped piqata on Aug. 1 as dozens gathered in the Houston City Hall Park to celebrate the 30th birthday of Nanon Williams, an innocent person on Texas death row.

THE LAND OF BIBLES, GUNS, PATRIOTS AND THE 'WORLD ROLE MODEL' FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: The state of Alabama, USA, executed James Barney Hubbard. So what? ... you might say ... America executes prisoners almost every week!

Appealing a Death Sentence Based on Future Danger USA-HOUSTON, June 9 - Texas juries in capital cases must make a prediction. They may impose a death sentence only if they find that the defendant will probably commit more violent acts.

Forensics? In proposing a new death penalty for Massachusetts last month, Governor Mitt Romney offered firm assurance that no innocent people would be executed: Convictions, he said, will be based on science.

Silencing the Cells: Mass Incarceration and Legal Repression in U.S. Prisons People without a voice are not people in any meaningful sense of the word. Silenced people cannot express their ideas; they can neither consent nor protest. They are reduced to being pawns in the schemes of the powerful, mendicants who must accept whatever is imposed upon them. In order to keep people in a state of subjugation, silencing their voices is essential. Nowhere is this clearer than in U.S. prisons.

U.N. Group Seeks End To Executions The United States, Japan, China, India and Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia opposed the resolution. Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guatemala, South Korea and Sri Lanka abstained.

US: Execution Dear Friends, this is so sad especially for our dear friend, San Nguyen. San who lives in Oklahoma worked very hard with the rest of the Vietnamese community to stop Mr. Le's execution. You may remember San from being at CURE's First International Conference in New York City in 2001. San also plans to be at the 8th National Convention this June in Washington. Charlie

Please contact the Governor The Vietnamese-American Community, the ACLU, and many others want the March 30 execution of Huang Thanh Le commuted.

Cherie Blair attacks US over death penalty in Catholic paper Cherie Blair has renewed her attack on America's use of the death penalty. In a book review in the Catholic journal The Tablet, under her maiden name Cherie Booth, she says: "Capital cases are uniquely prone to error and thus call into question whether we can ever be really sure of obtaining the just result.

Death penalty: a lawyer sees the light The observation "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" is illustrated by the two nations' differing reactions to the use of the death penalty as a legitimate punishment for murder.

OHIO: Judges join dissent on execution delay In Columbus, 5 federal appeals court judges say a convicted killer's request to delay his execution was illegally denied because 2 senior judges participated in the vote.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law GEORGE Ryan gets my vote as Australian of the Year, even though he's the outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois. There's just no one I admire more right now, not even Greg's Kables Community News Newtwork..

Mexico Awaits Hague Ruling on Citizens on U.S. Death Row Sbaldo Torres, a convicted murderer on death row in Oklahoma, should have been dead by now, his appeals exhausted, his time up.

Jury Passes On Business Of Killing US: This drives the death penalty crowd in the legislature nuts. Yet another jury - another 12 men and women, tried and true, who had all attested to their belief in the death penalty - has refused to join in the killing business.

Ultimate Punishment Scott Turow has long juggled two careers‹that of a novelist and that of a lawyer. He wrote much of his first and best known legal thriller, Presumed Innocent, on the commuter train to and from work during the eight years he spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, and he has churned out another blockbuster every third year since joining the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in 1986.

A Question of Innocence Rubin Carter: Day after day, week after week, I would sit in that filthy cell, seething. I was furious at everyone. At the two state witnesses who lied, at the police who put them up to it, at the prosecutor who sanctioned it, at the judge who allowed it, at the jury who accepted it, and at my own lawyer, for not being able to defeat it.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD: Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY " ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Bush rules out death sentence review US President George W Bush says has dismissed any chance of a review of America's system of capital punishment.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

USA - A NATION IN TURMOIL: As the year 2002 draws to a close, little if anything, has changed in the United States in regards to state-sanctioned killing. Various campaigns, calls for clemency, petitions, and international condemnation, have failed to humanize U.S. politicians.

Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.