The guidelines tie the hand of the sentencing judicial officer. John R.Marsden, Campbelltown. It's time for the bleating to stop. It's time to end the sheer stupidity of those who believe that young criminals are really golden-haired boys who are misunderstood. But those of us with memories know that it was the judiciary that gave Bond his three-year sentence, and gave Skase his passport.
Theft is theft, and trivialising the act of stealing can only encourage more of the same.
There must be no excuses. I cannot think of a better way to ensure equality before the law than to remove from a judge the ability to discriminate. So it's time to stuff the United Nations technocrats, stuff Senator Brown, and stuff the delicate do-gooders. Let's do something that's good for Australia. It's time that every State adopted mandatory sentencing.