So I just got banned from Steve Mav’s political page on the strength of two comment’s I put up in relation to this and a similar post he put up the next day spruiking his law and order “policy”:

Maybe I was a bit sarcastic in my replies:

“This is ridiculous, why don’t you concentrate on real issues”

and

“Yep – we should go further though, lets have lynch mobs in hoods roaming the streets looking for boat people and the homeless. We could have a Super Sunday in each city where we can hang the fuckers en mass. Can we start with the woman who walks past every morning and lets her dog crap on the lawn?

We can get the CWA to provide sandwiches and chocolate crackles at half time”

I got challenged on the first comment by a guy who wanted to know why it was a non issue and that’s simple – even if 99.9% of the people say yes to the question the law cannot and will not be changed, nor should it, so the meme is disingenuous at best, populist mob rousing at worst.

The second comment got me banned – sorry I upset you Steve. For a hard line non immigration and law and order advocate you are surprisingly sensitive.

Then again 30 seconds of googling on Steve Mav wasn’t flattering: See this and this for a brief idea of the calibre of the man.

No surprises that he was on the controversy ridden Glenorchy City Council as well until he was forced out for receiving a pay check but forgot he was actually supposed to work for it. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-06-16/alderman-mav-resignation-good-outcome-mayor/2472730.

I’d like to say up front that I find the crimes I’m referencing below heinous and the offenders should face the full brunt of the law. That said let’s look at this whole hanging thing –

Frederick Henry Thompson was the last man hanged in Tasmania somewhat ironically on Valentines Day in 1946. So Steve would like us to wind the clock back 73 years and legislate to use capital punishment by perhaps the most brutal method of execution there is and have it open to the public to act as a deterrent to others. No worries, to guarantee a crowd can I suggest half time at Blundstone Arena during the next North Melbourne game Steve?

So who would provide the entertainment then, how many of these intractable arseholes are we gunna neck stretch? There would need to be quite a few to justify changing legislation you’d think. Well let’s see – Murders are given right?

Let’s go to Steve’s research material – the Bible. An eye for an eye – these bastards have to hang for what they’ve done. It’s only reasonable – the good book says so. Sorry, should have said this bastard according to the latest crime statistics available (2017/2018). In this period there was 1 murder in Tasmania – damn, it’ll all be over in 5 minutes, the food vendors will go broke.

Luckily the meme also says Sex Offenders, surely that’ll increase hot dog sales. Guess we’d better work out what’s a hanging offense first – do you get your kneck stretched for pinching someone on the bum or merely lose the offending hand?

I’d imagine Steve would only mean the worst cases, paedophilia and sexual assualt using a weapon or does he mean the whole 184 people convicted of sexual assault in Tasmania in 2017/18? If it’s just the people using weapons thats 2% of 184 which is  3.64 – lets round it up to 4.

Now child sex offenders, In 2016 there were 35 substantiated claims of child sex abuse in Tasmania

So people facing the long drop every year in the Apple Isle total 40. Send em off in groups of four, apart from the finale being the murderer who should drop solo, and the crowds happy. Just over an hours blood lust, a game of footy and back on your free MTT bus home. Terrific family entertainment.

Must be cheaper than putting them away for 20 years to life too, right?

Well firstly we’d have to house them. Risdon Prison is overcrowded and death row prisoners need their own facility.  So a purpose built facility will have to be built. There goes quite a few million.

Then there’s the cost to the taxpayers for the mandatory appeal in presumably the Supreme Court which runs to 10k a day just for sitting let alone the legal representation for both sides which will come from the public purse. QCs don’t come cheap. Senior council is as high as $7500 per day and there’d be at least one other junior council as well running to around $2000 on average each.  Plus the prosecution. So an average 10 day appeal is $100,000 for the court and let’s say $130000 for representation on both sides. Multiply that by 40 and we have our first real cost of $9.2 million per year. That’s taxpayer money folks.

Steve has said that we should emulate other Western countries such as the US and Singapore so I’ll use USA as a basis for now as we don’t have relevant statistics for Australia. In the US the cost of housing a death row inmate is higher than an ordinary, run of the mill prisoner who’s only looking at getting shanked rather than a state sanctioned needle.

In Australia it costs on average $110,000 per year to house a garden variety criminal. so lets call it $150,000 for death row inmates, after all they need foxtel to catch up on Game of Thrones and there is a little bit more security involved.

The average stay for death row prisoners in the USA is 15 years before they face their maker. So 40 prisoners x 15 years x $150,000 and we’re looking at a shitload of cash to sustain our new dead prisoner’s society – or $90 million in non vulgar terms. And that’s just for this years alumni – the process starts again with next year’s intake.

Let’s say we don’t kill them and commute the sentence to 20 years which is the standard life sentence. The total cost for housing 40 prisoners in general population is 88 million. Of course it would be lower than this because under today’s sentencing laws most sexual assault perpetrators won’t get life, but I’m Mavving it up.

So executing our prisoners in real terms costs the taxpayer $11.2 million per year. In an age where Education, Housing and Health are drastically under funded I believe we can put that money to better use.

Of course if Steve and his adoring fans want all 184 sex offenders to face a noose these numbers go up exponentially.

Then there’s the chance of wrongful conviction and prisoners being executed after spending a decade and a half on death row knowing they’re innocent. In the USA those that have been released after being cleared of the crime they were incarcerated for have promptly lawyered up and have received on average 300k for every year of incarceration.

Any way you look at it executing people is wrong. Morally, financially and intellectually, there is no sound argument for capital punishment in Tasmania or anywhere else.

Pull your head in Steve.