During my early years of growing-up the thing I disliked most, but needed most, was receiving discipline from my father and from others in authority over me. Thinking and doing wrong was a natural default for me… doing wrong was always easier than doing right… my attitude needed to be corrected! Most probably, if discipline in my life had been overlooked, I would not have reached my 18th birthday and I would have served a term in juvenile detention. Like it or not, discipline impressed upon me my foolish and faulty tendencies.

The thing I appreciated most about my dad was his no-nonsense approach to dispensing justice whenever needed. My dad was a stonemason – he was blessed with LARGE hands. Most times, all he needed to do to bring me back in-line was to raise his hand at me. One sharp whack on the tail from him was enough to bring tears to my eyes and impress upon me that, for my benefit, a little more correction was needed. During such times I remember seeing on my father’s face how much it saddened him to have had to discipline me. However, his great love for his son, William, determined his firm, unbending stand against all forms of inappropriate behaviour. Yes, in our home, my dad was not soft on crime.

Junior and high school teachers also dispensed a similar standard of no-nonsense justice at school towards students who were determined to disturb and disrupt. I am ashamed to confess that the headmaster of Sydney’s Randwick Boys High got to know me very well. To this day, I can’t recall a single thing he said to me at any of my regular visits to his office, but I do remember the ‘six on each hand’ I received from his deadly aim with his cane. Yes, at school, my teachers were not soft on crime.

Several decades ago, Australian society was not soft on crime… at least, not until the execution of Ronald Ryan at HM Pentridge Prison, Victoria, on February 3, 1967, for the unlawful killing of an innocent man. Ryan’s execution eventually led to the abolition of the death penalty. In 2010, legislation came into being that prohibited capital punishment by any Australian state or territory and the extradition or deportation of a prisoner to another jurisdiction in the world if they could be sentenced to death for any crime!

Friends, Australian society and the judicial system has gone soft on crime! Gone are the days when punishment dispensed by the judiciary matched the level of crime performed by an offender. Punishment today no longer serves as a ‘crime deterrent’… the incidence and severity of crime continues to increase at an alarming rate with police and prisons stretched beyond their capacity.

God, who understands humanity better than we understand ourselves, is not soft on crime. In the Book of Exodus, God says, “…the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise” (21:23-25 NLT). It may surprise you to know that the New Testament’s standard of righteousness for believers is higher than the Old Testament! Our God is a God of justice… and He’s still hard on crime!   (Continuing Part 2 next week.)           

Best wishes
Bill