[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H16648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    JUDGES HALL OF SHAME--AUSTRALIA

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, crimes against children continue to be a crisis 
in our civilized communities. How society reacts to such crimes is a 
reflection on the value or lack of value it places on children.
  Recently, a 10-year-old girl was raped in Australia by nine males. 
The victim and the nine rapists were all native-born Aboriginals. The 
nine deviants were captured, and all nine admitted their guilt. So what 
did the Australian judge do to these criminals? Well, none of them went 
to prison. All of them received a suspended sentence, and the judge 
made the absurd comment at the trial that the 10-year-old girl 
``probably agreed to have sex with the perpetrators.'' I wonder what 
sentence the female judge would have imposed on the nine had the 10-
year-old girl been of European descent. A prominent Aboriginal leader 
said he believed that ``the chronic leniency toward offenders 
contributes to the abuse of Aboriginal children.''
  Mr. Speaker, a society is judged not by the way it treats the 
powerful or the rich, but how it treats the weakest among its people, 
like 10-year-old little girls. The judge in this case is a new member 
of the Judges Hall of Shame. And that's just the way it is.

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