Sexist Aspects of the Deportation of Australian Convicts
Absent from media consideration of this issue is any recognition of the sexism that will be inherent in the process of deportation. Firstly, we can safely assume that it will be all or at least disproportionately males who are subject to the process of deportation. Given that women commit about 50% of the most serious family violence towards children, about 25% of the most violent intimate partner violence, and a smaller but still significant proportion of other serious crime, we might expect some significant proportion (perhaps between 10% and 30%) of the deportees to be women but there is no indication that any of them are. This will be due largely to the lower tendency for women to be prosecuted or convicted in the first place including the higher rate with which their criminal behaviour is excused for mental health reasons, and much greater lenience in the sentences given to convicted females.
Secondly, the fact that it is all or overwhelmingly men who are being targeted for the deportation process will also contribute to the draconian, uncompassionate and unjust extent of that process. For example, the following aspects of the deportation process involve a callous inhumanity that would not be contemplated or tolerated if it were all or significantly females who were being subjected to it:
– Locking people up for significant duration after they have already served entire sentences for their crimes;
– Locking people up in isolated regions that seriously compromises their access to legal and social support;
– Locking people up under great secrecy and refusal to provide information to the prisoners, their families, their home government and media;
– Commencing the process without regard to individual circumstances such as the fact that the person has lived in Australia since being a young child, did not choose to move there and now has his entire life settled there.
Thirdly, the deportation process assumes an unjustified faith in the integrity of convictions. Even for general crimes there will be a significant proportion of wrongful convictions based on such practices as plea bargaining (where an accused is manipulated to plead guilty to an offence in order to avoid being prosecuted for a more serious offence – how can this ever be seen as justice?) and corrupt evidence from police and/or prosecution. Innocent convicts may be unable financially to mount appeals and legal aid for appeals is often refused based on some cursory assessment of the case. Many innocent convicts choose simply to endure their sentence rather than keep trying to deal with the hostile system that has imprisoned them, rationalizing the experience as bad luck and focusing on rebuilding their lives afterward.
When it comes to those convicted for domestic violence or sexual offences, we know full well that the proportion of wrongful convictions will be even greater than for most other convictions. Evidential requirements and standards of proof have been steadily eroded for these specific crimes due to feminist pressure, meaning that a man can be convicted on the basis of nothing but a woman’s allegation. Sexist consideration of evidence by Courts means that women are much more likely to be believed than men, even though there is no scientific evidence that women fib any less than men do. Juries will show much higher levels of compassion towards females than males as is shown in society generally. Further, a proportion of the convictions will be for breaching spurious, unjust domestic protection orders that were never based on any proper trial or sound proof. These offences may not have involved any shred of violence and may have reflected only the man’s love and concern for his children. Among those deportees whose convctions were for domestic violence or sexual offences, a high proportion will have been wrongfully convicted. But they’re only men so who cares?
Then Amy Adams under the Key government joins the mob to put the boot in to these deportees a bit more. Yet another Act is passed under urgency, without any opportunity for public consultation, that extends government powers and reduces citizens’ rights and freedoms. In this case the state’s right to impose supervision orders on people is extended for deportees who have already been convicted and served their sentences overseas, as is the state’s right to force citizens into providing bodily samples for the DNA register. It’s complicated to compare the new ‘Returning Offenders (Management and Information) Act 2015’ with existing laws such as the ‘Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995’ but it seems clear that the provisions of the existing laws have been extended to apply to the deportees and across a greater range of circumstances than the existing legislation allowed for. While the 1995 bodily samples Act entitled the state to take samples from those under investigation for certain crimes, the new Act entitles the state to take such samples from those who are not under any such investigation. Sure, the changes might not be major and may be seen as justified for protection of the community, but civil rights would not be so readily eroded if those concerned were mainly or significantly females. When it comes to males, anything goes in a never-ending spiral.
Apparently the ‘detainees’ when they arrived in NZ were ‘not in custody’ yet were transported together in a police van to their various places of accommodation that had to be approved in each case. If that’s not being in custody, what the hell is? I hope some or all of these guys sue the government for wrongful detention.
The sexist aspects of this saga will not be acknowledged in the foreseeable future but may be referred to as historical evidence when this sad anti-male era is one day investigated. This particular aspect of anti-male sexism has now been explored here on MENZ Issues, another first on this site.
Historically males were the proven violent gender. The biblical ancestors of today’s Middle East nations gave rise to the barbaric acts perpetuated today. Ozzies didn’t enjoy losing the RWC so we can expect some political fallout.
Comment by JONO — Thu 19th November 2015 @ 11:47 am
I don’t know JONO. Re your comment on the Middle East… I guess with your biblical logic it is evident that the world has always been sexist against men in attributing a male gender to God because he is violent. Here is a list from the bible of ‘His’ barbarity:
1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.
NUMBERS 31:17-18 God commanded Moses to kill all of the male Midianite children and “kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”
We have fought hard to remove the barbarism within ‘old testament’ and subsequent bastardization of Christianity since the age of enlightenment. While I agree that we are dealing with a new barbarism from a similarly motivated group of power hungry people from the Middle East hell bent on bastardizing their own religion to wreak havoc, I don’t think the old testament is far removed from the barbarity you are pointing out here.
The age of enlightenment saw the rise of humanism and the egalitarian institutions which eventually usurped the church as the pivotal moral driver in western society. What is now evident however, is that the same power hungry type of people are ruining these institutions with wholesale sexism, non-science and non-sense. This article on deportees from Australia being only male is yet again evidence of this. It is a good example of it. Thanks Menz
Comment by GIJoe — Thu 19th November 2015 @ 12:37 pm
please the bible is written in code. Read the kabbalah, zohar, or other ancient texts. Killing man woman or child refers to killing the egotistical(selfish) aspects of our human nature. Please research kabbalah! It’s 5000 years old. Woman are equally as violent as men they are just the ‘weaker sex’. The bible or any ancient texts are codes with hidden meanings, esoteric books. Tree of life in genesis, is an example. Shalom my friends (peace).
Comment by J — Thu 19th November 2015 @ 10:03 pm
It would have been useful if God had left a footnote: ps-‘this is all in code’
Comment by GiJoe — Fri 20th November 2015 @ 7:33 am
Convenient huh, if these religious texts are written in code (for which there is no key) then anyone can subsequently claim to be able to crack and thereby support whatever belief they prefer. However, this religious debate is hardly on topic for this posting.
Comment by Man X Norton — Fri 20th November 2015 @ 12:52 pm
You’re right. Wrong forum. Apologies to all subscribers. 🙂
Comment by GiJoe — Fri 20th November 2015 @ 3:16 pm
Man X is right, the interpretation of religious texts is NOT on-topic for this site [moderator].
Comment by JohnPotter — Fri 20th November 2015 @ 4:34 pm
“deportees to be women but there is no indication that any of them are.”
The famous “incest mum” – Moved to Aus (in teens?) and joined with a family in horrendous abuse of children. One of Australias longest serving females is facing and fighting deportation.
Damm right we want Parole and DNA from this woman!
Comment by JnF — Fri 20th November 2015 @ 6:20 pm
JnF (#8): Um, this woman known as ‘Betty Colt’ was probably born out of an incestuous relationship and has maintained a socially isolated family that continued incest and inbreeding. She was not ‘one of Australia’s longest serving females’, being imprisoned only for 12 months for attempting to ‘kidnap’ her children back from a state enforced foster home, something she appeared to do out of love for her children albeit inadequate according to our social conventions. Quite frankly, state-ordered care of children is inherently abusive and in addition has such an appalling record of further deliberate abuse and poor outcomes for children that if Betty Colt had been successful in her plan to rescue her children they may well have been better off.
Betty Colt’s undesirable behaviour was related only to her own family and she probably presents little threat to other people.
Aside from this we would make the following points:
– Some of the male deportees in this week’s batch will present a serious threat to the safety of the community and it can only be seen as justified that they are monitored and controlled by the NZ state. However, for others in that batch this will not apply and their deportation will simply compound the injustice they have already been subjected to, as explained in the posting above. The rushed legislation passed undemocratically by Amy Adams and her government contains nothing that might check on the integrity of these deportees’ convictions or sentences or that might protect them from compounding injustice upon their return. It simply entitles NZ Police and Corrections to control and harass every deportee. Such a callous approach was contemplated only because all in this batch of deportees were male.
– The fact is that Betty Colt has not yet been deported and is being allowed to remain in Australia while she appeals the deportation order. One suspects that her gender has contributed to this circumstance. Further, because she is female her chances of succeeding in the appeal will be considerably greater than that for any of the male deportees. Also, she is being kept in an immigration detention centre in Sydney rather than far away on Christmas Island or somewhere in Western Australia where the males seem to be held, so she will have much better access to social, legal and diplomatic support. The whole process of deportation shows the same pro-female sexism apparent throughout our societies.
– Another fact is that none of the batch of deportees this week were female as far as we can make out. Why not, when offending demographics would suggest that around 20% would be female?
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 8:31 am
Incidentally, in researching this issue we have discovered yet another example of blatant sexism in NZ legislation. The list of ‘relevant offences’ for application of the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995 includes most sexual offences and many violent offences including ‘Male Assaults Female’. However, the only comparable violent offence for which a woman could be convicted, ‘Common Assault’, is NOT on the list. So when a woman assaults a man this isn’t considered serious enough for that woman’s DNA to be taken and stored by the state, but when a man commits exactly the same assault towards a woman this is considered serious enough to force him to provide DNA and to have this stored by the state.
We can add this example to the list of sexist legislation that discriminates against males. Has anyone come across other, previously unidentified examples?
Comment by Ministry of Men's Affairs — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 8:40 am
@JP and Man X Norton, I think some people misunderstand the concept of the bible being a code, i.e. ‘a code’ being a way of life, confused with ‘a code’ to be decoded.
I’ve encountered this before on a number of occasions.
But even then, you have to read a religious text in its historical context, which is equally confusing.
I think those texts do have some relevance to MENZ where the historical aspects of men are discussed, which they are in many places.
It’s the confused religious fervent, that’s to avoided.
Comment by Downunder — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 2:31 pm
When this biblical stuff first came up, I restrained myself. Please do not insult the intelligence of members who are here for MENZ issues, not as targets for superstitious proselytising. I will not give belief any respect which you no doubt will feel it is due as of right. If you are serious PRESENT YOUR EVIDENCE – Your SCIENCE – but elsewhere – not here.
Comment by Equality — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 2:46 pm
Men’s Issues have existed for millenniums – they even fought a civil war in Rome over divorce.
You can see religious texts for what you want; as inbred beliefs, or historical points of reference.
Comment by Downunder — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 3:48 pm
Religion poisons everything. You are free to have your imaginary friends delusions or whatever, but don’t foist them up here where we are trying to deal with 21st century MENZ issues. Also teaching one’s kids in religious belief is child abuse which grows into a blight for minkind. Abuse of their right to free thought, form their own opinions etc. Its adults brain washing kids minds that’s to blame with most of the misery and nastiness in the world today, ISIL for example.
Believers feel some right to just spout off about their imaginary friends, as if we should respect them – I for one don’t respect that at all. Also John Potter earlier pointed out that this is off-topic for this site, but it kept on, and that is ignorant. So you get no respect from me for your infatuation with a primitive man made book, which plagiarised many previous legends. Its ridiculous.
Comment by Equality — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 4:31 pm
Common. This is not about imaginary friends – you want to make this a debate about Godhead.
The bibles of the world are small samples of historical literature that have been put together as a prescription for society.
The average bible has 60 – 70 individual books selected from the 1000s available – this happened about 350 AD, after the collapse of the Roman Empire.
The current religions are fear of us making the same mistakes.
I don’t mind you dismissing the concept of Godhead, people can live without organised religion, but why burn the books of the past, that’s what you’re doing.
These were men and women writing the stories of their life, just like we are doing here.
Comment by Downunder — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 5:55 pm
This is persistently off-topic. The religious books are not history books. Just like they are not science books. Nor are they any kind of moral guide. its pointless mentioning them. This is not what this site is meant to be about.
Comment by Equality — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 6:40 pm
Men were never kept as slaves in Egypt, and Moses wasn’t a terrorist.
Thank God he got them deported.
Comment by Downunder — Sat 21st November 2015 @ 6:47 pm