Stop letting domestic violence offenders back on our streets

After months of sitting through our regional Qld courts watching multiple perpetrators of chilling domestic violence get little more than a slap on the wrist, I am left wondering ‘where is the line?’

Domestic violence has become a staple of the region’s court circuit.

Sitting in a court sentence - one of hundreds I have covered in my short time as a regional journalist - I was once again shocked and dismayed at the apparent disregard for the safety of domestic violence victims.

As a fresh-faced journalist I was eager to put my university degree to good work, reporting on the positive and the necessary negative news of my community that I love.

Coming into the role I had little real life experience with domestic violence, whether that was through luck or sheer will, I cannot say, but I can say my time covering court has left with me little faith that I will be supported or protected should that day ever come.

Through months of court reporting, I have questioned the strength of Queensland's court systems and been left appalled at the softness of sentences against people who have committed heinous domestic violence crimes against men, woman and children (usually their own children).

Sitting in a court sentence on Thursday - one of hundreds I have covered in my short time as a regional journalist - I was once again shocked and dismayed at the apparent disregard for the safety of domestic violence victims.

I have spoken to prosecutors about the reality of the justice system, which allows serial offenders to return time and again to court, repeating the same sorry sympathies they have cried over and again, only be let back into the community to do it again.

I have been told one cannot be sentenced again for crimes they have already “done their time for” but when these criminals are coming back over and over, hurting innocent people along the way, I can’t help but ask “where is the line?”

On Thursday evening my editor and colleague attended a police forum aimed at addressing domestic violence in the region, a crime which has become such a burden for local police; they are overwhelmed.

Anyone who has watched or read the news in recent years would know how prevalent domestic violence has become, with an endless string of questions about how it should be dealt with, how we can keep people - women and children mostly - safe.

To me, the answer is simple.

Stop letting the abusers out of jail.

Stop giving domestic violence offenders second, third, fourth, fifth chances to hurt people, people who love and trust them.

This week I sat in on the district court sentence of a man who had faced domestic violence orders in relation to three different woman.

Sitting in a court sentence on Thursday - one of hundreds I have covered in my short time as a regional journalist - I was once again shocked and dismayed at the apparent disregard for the safety of domestic violence victims.

He was in court for once again breaching an order in an incredibly violent way while making death threats.

What if he had followed through?

Would the woman have become yet another statistic, despite this bloke’s previous “rehabilitation”; despite a protection order to supposedly keep her safe?

He will be released later this year after serving one third of his sentence behind bars.

I say if you want to minimise the amount of people committing domestic violence, prevent them from being released after serving one third of their sentence.

Impose mandatory jail sentences for those who breach contravention and protection orders more than once or twice.

I don’t claim to be a lawyer, or a judge, and only spent two semesters covering law during my degree, but to me the answer is simple: if you want people to stop committing crimes, keep them behind bars for longer.

I have yet to come across a person facing a domestic violence charge who does not have a criminal history of domestic violence or contravening police protection orders.

Why do these people keep getting the benefit of the doubt?

How often do we hear of women dying at the hands of partners or former partners despite protection orders being in place, despite a history of “rehabilitation” and time served?

Too often.

A recent Courier-Mail report indicated between 2022 and 2023, 24 people were allegedly murdered in domestic violence settings, with domestic violence orders in place for six of those alleged murders, and a third of the accused having had contact with police in the 12 months prior.

Erase early releases after serving one third of sentences for domestic violence offenders, have those who plead guilty or are found guilty of domestic violence remain behind bars for their entire sentence, regardless of good behaviour and mandate rehabilitation courses during their stay.

It may come at a cost, and I don’t pretend to know how much it costs the average taxpayer to keep a person behind bars, but can that cost really be higher than the lives of those who have died as a result of domestic violence?

As a society, as a state, as a country we have to decide which cross we want to bear, because what we have been doing, what we have been allowing is not working.