Retiring judge rues meth misery
Ice is destroying lives and its pervasive use needs to be confronted by the community, says retiring Supreme Court Justice John McKechnie.
Stepping down from the bench this week to become head of the State's corruption watchdog, Mr McKechnie said he had hardly dealt with a criminal case in the past 10 years that had not in some way been associated with methamphetamine.
In an interview with _The Weekend West _ after presiding in the State's top court for 16 years, retiring as the Supreme Court's longest- serving sitting judge, Mr McKechnie gave his views about the causes of offending, continuing resource issues and an unrelenting workload, the prohibitive cost of civil litigation and his strong belief in the jury system as a "great counter to tyranny".
Mr McKechnie said by the time ice use led offenders to the Supreme Court, it was too late - even though by the time of sentencing they often had a genuine desire to stay off the drug.
"If they have committed a serious offence, judges do not regard the fact that it was committed while under the influence as worthy of much consideration," he said.
"What I have observed is that methamphetamine is rife within the indigenous community and the cause of tremendous misery and hardship.
"The level of aggression in meth-fuelled violence is often of a higher order than that fuelled by alcohol."
On WA's high rate of Aboriginal incarceration, Mr McKechnie said there were too many societal issues that had not been adequately addressed and that applied to most offenders.
"It is worthwhile thinking occasionally about the causes of crime," he said.
"Here are some in no particular order - poverty, lack of education, mental health issues, lack of positive male role models.
"There are far too many absent fathers, substance abuse and early exposure to sexual and other violence."
Mr McKechnie, who managed the court's dangerous sex offender list, said many repeat rapists and paedophiles dealt with by the specialist laws, which can hold offenders in jail or place them on supervision after they have served their full sentence, were significantly intellectually handicapped.
"For both of these classes of people I have constantly suggested a form of secure accommodation which can adequately protect the community while assisting their re-entry," he said.
Mr McKechnie said in the Supreme Court's civil jurisdiction, the high cost of litigation continued to put it beyond the reach of most ordinary people.
Reflecting on what he would miss after moving to the Corruption and Crime Commission, Mr McKechnie commented with both the sense of humour and deep sense of respect for the rule of law for which he has become known on the bench.
"There are the obvious things," he said. "When I walk into the room, everybody stands and everybody laughs at my jokes.
"Seriously though, I will miss most the collegiality and friendship of my fellow judges."
