"MAXIMUM SENTENCES" ARE NOT "MANDATORY SENTENCES" - ONE PUNCH CRIMES MUST INCUR THE LATTER

Following the one punch attack on Thomas "Thomie" Dover on the Gold Coast, which has left the 21year old in an induced coma and on the brink of death, the message to our politicians has never been louder and clearer - one punch attacks that cause death or serious injury must attract a mandatory jail term. 

Same as if you shoot or stab somebody with the intent to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm, or rape somebody, if you throw a punch and it kills your victim, or leaves them with a permanent brain injury, then you must cop severe punishment, and that punishment has to be a lengthy stint in prison without any chance of parole.

Question is, why are we still debating the pros and cons of mandatory sentencing? Politicians in Queensland from both sides of the fence have always ducked the issue, seemingly because they don't want to be accused of politicizing the legal system or interfering with the processes of the courts.

Fair enough, you would expect the Palaszczuk Government to tread very cautiously in relation to mandatory sentencing and seek to uphold the independence of the courts as much as humanly possible. That is a fundamental pillar of our legal system and what underpins the seperation of powers.

But with law and order issues, there is such a thing as community expectations, and if the courts are not meeting those expectations, because certain judges and Magistrates are dishing out manifestly lenient sentences to the likes of one punch thugs, then the government of the day must step in and overrule.  

That's what Attorney-Generals are for, and that's why Yvette D'ath must put one punch attacks and all forms of violent crime into the mandatory sentencing category, and make that law in Queensland, once and for all.

Enough is enough, mandatory sentences won't stop violent thugs being who they are and stamp out all violence in the community at large, but the prospect of 15 years and upwards in prison, as opposed to 2 or 3 and out on parole, might make even the biggest hotheads think twice or three times before they go out in public and kinghit somebody.