The New South Wales government is waging a war against graffiti - which has become a blight on the community. New laws are being enacted to toughen penalties and increase police powers.
In future, it will be an offence to be in possession of a paint spray can without a lawful reason, and on conviction the offender could be sentenced to six months gaol.
It sounds impressive, but the final outcome will probably not see much change.
The imposition of all laws are at the discretion of the presiding magistrate or judge, and that discretion was established long ago to avoid " one size fits all " sentencing.
The most likely scenario is for some unfortunate individual to have the book thrown at him or her for a graffiti offence, just to show the government and the media that the new law is working, and most other offenders to get a gentle slap on the wrist.
What the public - and what the government - considers a heinous crime is often not seen that way by the judiciary - and they are a stubborn, opinionated lot. They cling to that power of discretion and in the past governments of differing political persuasion have had no luck in moving them.
And that is the corner stone of our judicial system. It exists at arms length from politics and the state - and is the reason we do not have arbitrary sentencing laws.
It looks like we will just have to put up with graffiti until we figure out how to instill civic pride in the offenders.
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