We are over-run by raping murderers

We are over-run by raping murderers: joining the dots on refuge & crime.
Or why we should fund the Loft & give child asylum seekers a safe place.
I'd so like to never speak of this again.
But the media is full of raping murdering parolees again.
Violent sex offending is a real conundrum.
It is important to keep in mind that prisons & detention are criminogenic & that about half of inmates are remandees & of those convicted are usually drug & alcohol related & minor crimes – not violent sex offences. In there they are offended against (violent rape) & learn the power of retributive rape whilst building up a cause of injustice (esp if innocent). It's worst for young men.
Even with sex offenders, prison tends to make them more violent (exceptions include first time intrafamilial sex offenders of prior high status – though perhaps they just go o/s to offend & aren't caught). Sex offending programs are mandatory for parole, as is expressed guilt, but they can be counter-productive, esp when young child victim sex offenders are mixed with adult victim offenders. It's pretty easy to learn how to 'pass', & the noncompliers are probably less dangerous (eg they are more likely to be innocent & regardless avoid building up hate & a noxious self identity & ideation of their role in society). If we want to prevent recurrence we need to address this. There are some programs with reasonable evidence for efficacy but they are usually community based, &/or voluntary.
Meanwhile what to do with offenders? At what stage would we lock someone up with no prospect of release ever – after 1,2 or 3 murder/rapes? What does that say to victims 1 & 2? What does it say to 2 & 3? What risk does that pose to non-violent sex offenders in prison, especially for violence inducing experience of rape, or intense exposure to the mindset of violent rapist murderers in compulsory 'therapeutic' groups? These are serious issues.
& if we're going to lock up people forever or have them monitored for life in the community we have to make darn sure we set a high bar of proof of severity of crime & of guilt – otherwise we will be permanently punishing millions of men, some of whom will be innocent.
But surviving victims & their beloved will find this legal process highly traumatic & guilty people will go free.
We need new & better ways at the start, including social support & alternative justice such as circle sentencing for minor sex offenders. We need to do this because vulnerability & disadvantage are big risk factors to offending, & imprisonment is a big compounding factor in disadvantage.
& here we get to the Loft & child refugees.
The Loft is a small organisation in Newcastle that had it's Council funding cut a day or so ago. A sort of refuge, it provided young people a drop in safe space & programs & activities & support. It had particular support for LGTBIQ & Indigenous & refugee kids. Kids could go there when they had no-where else. They avoided being victims of crime & committing crime. They learn to deal with their vulnerabilities & find acceptance. They learn how to not be bullies, to not be offenders. They learn how to have confidence & see diversity as an advantage & strength. They aren't at risk of being criminalised by collecting in a private or public space like the street or a mall.
Studying victimology will tell you that vulnerability & disadvantage create a path to becoming a victim, then victimhood becomes another factor of increased vulnerability & disadvantage putting you at higher risk of being a victim. Non-males obviously have a head start here, but it applies to boys & men too. Being Aboriginal puts another big head start to risk - & that's such a huge interaction of vulnerability & disadvantage in current Aust society that I'll not detail the differentials in what's supposed to be a short general comment. The Intervention is an eg of what not to do.
To avoid becoming a woman at high risk of violent rape & murder, we need to prevent girls from coming in contact with the criminal justice system & jail & detention, to provide them with safe places & a culture that respects them as people. Australia is pretty crap at that, even Ms Gillard is demeaned via judgement of her womanhood daily.
To prevent child refugees becoming involved as victims & offenders in any 'migrant crime wave', however falsely exaggerated this is, or how manufactured by prejudice, politics, propaganda & policing, we need to provide them with a safe place & a culture that respects them as people. In detention & in unwelcoming un-resourced communities, we are failing spectacularly, & deportation is not the answer. We need to protect them from institutional abuse, from detention, from detention in places where despair, violence & sexual abuse takes place, from prejudicial racist abuse, from abject need.
We need to give ourselves a chance.
Thanks.