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That'll be a real deterrent as he's seen playing AFL at the G while under a suspended jail sentence.
And, as has already been detailed elsewhere in the thread, of course the seriousness of the injury is significant. That's life. If you break the law then the consequences of your legal breach will most certainly impact the punishment.
If Newman got 2 years inside maybe the next dickhead who decides beating people up is normal might think twice. Certainly if Newman gets the sentence you suggest it will have zero deterrent impact.
why should the possibility of him playing AFL at the G factor into it at all? surely he should be treated like anyone else. the crime should be considered on its merits, not the media/public influence.
of course the seriousness of injury is important, that's not what i was saying - my point was: i feel there needs to be a better bridge between the action and outcome of the crime. as i said idiots starting fights in clubs is ridiculously common. what happens to these guys? literally nothing, to the point where they probably don't even realise they're doing crime. they might get banned from the venue, but most often not. they walk away, brag about it on facebook, and get to be heroes/tough c***s in their worlds. if we're going to push the hard line and jail guys like newman for 2 years, we also need act more harshly on the anyone who starts fights in clubs.
i also don't agree that taking an overly punitive approach is a necessity. i mean people still speed, people still drink drive. everyone knows what horrific outcomes those actions can bring, but again, accidents are so rare that the consequences don't correlate with the behaviour. the negative reinforcement just isn't there.
i also don't feel that jail should be used in cases like this except as an absolute last resort. jail is ****ed. seriously. it ruins people and if anything, does nothing but make them better criminals/more likely to re-offend. do we really think that the best way to rehabilitate someone who in their first offence has broken someone's jaw in a fit of rage is to throw them into an environment that perpetuates everything we're punishing them for? where it's dog eat dog, where physical violence and aggression a way of survival, where being "a tough c***" is how you get by? jail's going to do more harm than good for this kid. and as it stands, what's the likelihood that he's going to re-offend? i'd say it's fairly low. is he remorseful? seems to be. does he have a stable/supportive environment? he sure does. so make him go to anger management counselling, make him pay all costs associated with the injury he delivered (which i doubt will be insignificant), give him a suspended sentence so he knows if that if he does continue to behave in this way he'll go straight to jail. - also let's not scoff at suspended sentences.
anyways, that's just my personal opinion on the matter, not how i think the courts will act.






