Since Melinda Tankard Reist clearly trusts the judgement of the Classification Board (Canberra Times, Anti-exploitation campaigners urge ratings classification for art, 28 April 2011), she should be aware that the Henson images rated by the board were at most given a PG rating. This contrasts with something like the Bible, which the Board rightly recommends a Mature audience for.

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The Human Rights Commissioner's 2004 report paved the way for release of refugee children from detention. We've regressed: now more than 900 kids are behind bars and razor wire. It's time for some moral leadership from the top, writes the author of that report, and CLA member, Sev Ozdowski.
Photo: Sev Ozdowski hands down the report in 2004.

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Restorative justice aims to help victims of crime, turn prisoners into contributors, make prisons better for everyone, and send convicted criminals back into the community to NOT re-offend. Why isn't it in use everywhere? Brian Steels explains how it works.

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Opening an Australian Institute of Criminology conference, Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor gave a good rundown of some projects nationwide – including some by the private sector – to help juveniles avoid becoming hardened criminals.

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Editor, The Australian, Sir: Re 'Dads demand blanket DNA testing', The Australian 16 Feb 2011, p3.
I support men’s rights agency director Sue Price's call for mandatory DNA testing at birth, and Sole Parents Union president Kathleen Swinbourne urging uncertain fathers to seek testing during pregnancy. The Federal Government reports cite in the last four years 586 cases of men successfully using DNA testing to show that they were not biologically related to the children they had been financially supporting.

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Restorative justice is a growing trend worldwide, but the concept needs better definition, more targeted use, better reporting and support from governments, Auneesh Kishore writes. His internship report, a joint undertaking with CLA and the Law Faculty of UNSW, lays the groundwork for further research on this important development in how society deals with criminality.

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In Tasmania, puffers are duffers, councils say...as Hobart, Launceston and Burnie lead the way to ban smoking in public, under threat of a $120 fine. But do such paternalistic policies do more harm than good? The Australian Parliament has just issued a thought-provoking research paper.

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The senior Law Officers - Attorney-General McClelland and Minister for Justice O'Connor – don't appear to be aware there is a major, six-month long inquiry into the Classifications (that is, censorship) scheme under way in the Senate. Instead the Lower House pair have told SCAG (see item below) that they are referring a new censorship inquiry to the Australian Law Reform Commission. Go figure!

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