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'k ECENT election campaigns in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia have witnessed the emergence of law and order as an important A ^electoral issue. In their attempts to sway voters, politicians from virtually all the mainstream political parties have sought to persuade electors that diey are com­ paratively ‘tough on crime’. In some instances, competing politicians try to forge anti-crime credentials by calling for harsher sentences for many types of crime and limitations on early parole for convicted offenders. In many respects this emphasis on crime and justice in Australian politics re­ sembles a more established tradition in American politics, where candidates for public office now routinely denounce their opponents for being ‘soft on crime’ and almost unanimously support the death penalty for certain serious offences. Re­ member George Bush’s successful ‘revolving door’ advertisement involving die no­ torious Willie Horton which badly undermined Governor Dukakis’s presidential campaign in 1988? The legal establishment has generally not welcomed the emergence of law and order as an electoral issue in Australia. Numerous commentators have condemned politicians from all parties for focusing on crime, especially candidates who call for harsher sentencing laws. For instance, Broadhurst and Loh have argued that the Western Australian Crime (Serious and Repeat Offenders) Sentencing Act 1992, which imposed higher penalties on juvenile criminals, was politically motivated: ‘. . . die government, in our diesis, was not primarily legisladng to control dangerous young offenders at all — aldiough it may have hoped or believed die Act would operate to catch and deter die “hard core” offender. Radier die government per­ sisted widi die legisladon because it appeared to be tough and harsh on “hard core” offenders’ (Broadhurst & Loh, 1993:267). Similarly, Findlay has observed dial ‘in New Soudi Wales bodi sides of politics prefer views on crime, control and preven­ tion, which not only exaggerate die crime direat, but imply diat short term, and dramatic political responses are die answer’ (1995:325). Moreover, various experts have assured us diat available data show diat crime rates are not rising and diat die streets are not any less sale dian diey used to be (see, for example, Grabovsky, 1995). Sometimes die media are blamed for generating a public fear of crime dispro­ portionate to die actual incidence of crime. Thus, Findlay has argued diat ‘all too

An Economic Perspective on Crime and Punishment in Modern Australia