Lockout Laws Leave Larrikins Lacking Love for Liberal party

By Sophie Clarke z3460475 

First year criminology, one of the first topics is about the influence of the media upon politics and crime policy.  So it really came as no surprise when the liquor and lockout laws were introduced earlier, in January this year.

Over the past few years, the media has taken upon themselves to voice a new crusade; they have decided that the worthy agenda they should devote their articles towards is demanding harsher penalties for people who perpetrate ‘king hits’. Otherwise known as coward punches, it is a form of assault that consist of the accused rendering the victim unconscious or even dead after one hit.  Over the course of 2012 and 2013, two young men (Thomas Kelly and Daniel Christie) were killed in Sydney’s party district Kings Cross, falling victim to these ‘king hits’. There was a loud outcry in the media regarding the four year sentence given to Kieran Loveridge, who was responsible for the deadly attack upon Thomas Kelly (Bibby, 2014).

Source: News Limited

 The campaign was taken on board by a variety of New South Wales newspapers, most notably by the Daily Telegraph and The Sydney Morning Herald. In response to continual campaigns, the then O’Farrell government introduced the alcohol and drug fuelled violence initiatives scheme (http://www.nsw.gov.au/alcohol-and-drug-fuelled-violence-initiatives).

Hogg and Brown provide an analysis of law and order issues such as this, which argues that often the media perpetuate themes of ‘common sense’ crime policy as a resolution to any apparent problem in society (1998). One of the major common sense policies is “we need tougher penalties” (Hoggs and Brown 1998, p. 38). This is clearly evident within the current media discourse, for example within the following article: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/dpp-calls-for-tougher-sentence-on-kieran-loveridge-over-thomas-kelly-coward-punch/story-fni0cx12-1226908818738 . The rhetoric calling for harsher punishments clearly made a political impact with one of the major changes within the scheme being the alteration of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) to now include a variety of minimum mandatory sentences, both for king hits (one punch assaults) and for violent offense that occur under the influence of alcohol or drugs (source: http://www.nsw.gov.au/alcohol-and-drug-fuelled-violence-initiatives).

The second major change within the scheme was the introduction of ‘lockouts’, prohibiting entry to clubs in certain districts after 1:30am and a prohibition of purchasing alcoholic drinks after 3am in the same venues.  The media rhetoric surrounding this issue was more of a secondary concern, an offshoot of cries for harsher penalties for king hitters. However the rhetoric still faintly echoed other ‘common sense’ criteria outlined by Hogg and Brown, regarding nostalgia of crime in the past (1998, p. 27). The media was filled with discourse shaming the current young generations for their wild drunken antics causing crime in Kings cross, supporting measures to stop nightclub goers from disturbing the peace through lockout legislation.   

 

Source: News Limited

However, despite the assumptions one might make about society being pleased that popular demands for tougher crime laws were satisfied, there still remains a large amount of individuals who are discontent with the laws. Newspapers such as the Daily Telegraph demonstrated their fickle nature once again through publishing stories criticizing the measure they once rallied for:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lockout-laws-crime-stats-show-violence-spreading-outside-nightclubs/story-fni0cx12-1226939939659.

It appears that, similar to Mawby’s 2010 hypothesis, that increasingly law and order issues and the relationship between crime, media and politics is becoming increasingly blurred; because the media’s “claims of truth and accuracy can be contested” (p. 1073). Mawby supposes that society and societal values have altered since Chibnall’s grand assessment of law and order reporting, with an growing complexity within societal perceptions of governmental responses to the media’s agenda setting regarding crime (2010).   

I think this particular example demonstrates that when it comes to the media, it will never be satisfied by the policy responses put in place by the political parties of the time. The government responses will always be criticized, either for being too weak or too harsh or not targeting the ‘right’ crime. It appears to be a futile chasing game of the government endlessly attempting to satisfy the demands of the media in terms of crime policy in order to garner wider political support.

References:

Bibby, P 2014, ‘Keiran Loveridge’s sentence for killing Thomas Kelly too law, appeal court hears’, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 May 2014. Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/keiran-loveridges-sentence-for-killing-thomas-kelly-too-low-appeal-court-hears-20140507-zr69x.html).

Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW)

Dale, A 2014, ‘DPP calls for tougher sentence on Kieran Loveridge over Thomas Kelly coward punch’, The Daily Telegraph, 7 May. Available here: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/dpp-calls-for-tougher-sentence-on-kieran-loveridge-over-thomas-kelly-coward-punch/story-fni0cx12-1226908818738 .

Hogg, R Brown D 1998, Rethinking Law and Order, Pluto Press, Sydney.

Mawby R, 2010 ‘Chibnall revisted: Crime reporters, the police and ‘Law-and-order news’, British Journal of Criminology, vol. 50, pp. 1060-1076.

McClellan, B Van Den Broeke L 2014, ‘Lockout laws: crime stats show violence spreading outside nightclubs’, The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 2014. Available at: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/lockout-laws-crime-stats-show-violence-spreading-outside-nightclubs/story-fni0cx12-1226939939659

http://www.nsw.gov.au/alcohol-and-drug-fuelled-violence-initiatives Accessed 4 June 2014.