When you’ve found your whipping-boy, whip it, whip it good

Following my long post yesterday, I see that the Bulletin is at it again today (so much for the power of the blogosphere!).

Today’s front page screamer (not available online - isn't that interesting!) moves from the completely inappropriate “war-zone” language of yesterday’s Bulletin to talk of “madness” and pleas for the Premier’s intervention. The hook for today’s beat-up? - the release of the most recent Statistical Review by the coppers.

The article quite rightly expresses concern at an apparent increase in assaults in the last year and manages to note later that, in reality, the data only indicates reported crimes and is not a count of actual crime. But they then somehow manage to imply that all of this is evidence of a youth crime problem (“madness”?).

The data they use is for all ages and says nothing (repeat, nothing) about youth crime. In fact, it also says nothing about Townsville – the data is for a region covers that about ¼ of the State and that stretches from the coast to the NT border.
Unfortunately, the coppers report isn’t available online as yet (check here later) – it will be interesting to see whether in fact there is any type of reversal in the trending decline over recent years in young offenders involved in crimes against the person (see here).

Furthering the impression that this is all about kids (and welfare mothers for that matter), the article then goes on to regurgitate Mooney’s proposal to somehow withhold welfare payments (not quarantine them) from the parents of bad kids – however that is going to be decided (see the end of this post).

We finish off with news of a new police operation targeting kids in Kirwan and a report that 100 kids have been checked (presumably, that the coppers had seen and perhaps talked with) in 3 days (and NOT broken any laws necessarily). Finally, there is a listing of ‘crimes’ detected (presumably) in that operation and again, no evidence that they were committed by young people – despite the implication.

All in all, shoddy work and a totally meaningless analysis - as we’ve come to expect from the Bulletin. But then whipping boys (or is that dead horses) are there for one thing – to whip.