Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

The law and its miracles ... Party allies selected for judicial elevation in Qld ... Justice Jenni Hill's brother ... More entries for the Golden Tortoise award ... Federal Court muddles the maths, again ... Theodora reports ... Read more >>

Politics Media Law Society


Rupert World ... Lord Moloch’s pal Doug the Diva – driving Washington spare … News UK’s model for unionism … What next for the Washington Post? … Concealed coal lobbyists running an anti-Teal campaign … More corruption busting for Stinging Nettle … The litigation industry spawned by Lehrmann ... Read on >> 

The eagle cracked

Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Party time for Dicey ... Heydon's book - a pathway to rehabilitation ... The predatory man and the clever intellect - all wrapped up in the one person ... Academic tome and cancel agenda ... Despite the plaudits the record of abuse doesn't vanish ... Book launch with young associates at a safe distance ... Procrustes thinks out loud ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Being a lawyer can be sheer misery ... Psychological distress ... Workplace incivility ... Lack of support ... Rotten culture ... Report on wellbeing ... More >> 

Justinian's Bloggers

Governance turmoil at Tiny Town Law Society ... Night of the long knives ... Lakeside in Canberra ... ACT Law Society upheaval over governance changes ... Bodies carted out of the council room ... Blood on the carpet ... Fraught litigation another distraction ... From Gang Gang ... Read more >> 

"One wonders whether a murderer who later contributes to society might be treated better that Heydon has been." 

Janet Albrechtsen in The Australian seeking the resurrection of former justice Dyson Heydon whose sexual predations ruined the legal careers of young women associates at the High Court ... April 11, 2025 ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Letter from Rome ... Judges on strike ... Too much "reform" ... Berlusconi legacy ... Referendum on the way ... Constitutional court inflames the Meloni regime with decision on boat people ... Insults galore ... Silvana Olivetti reports ... Read more >> 


Justinian's archive

Tea is for Tippy ... Life of a tiffstaff ... Bright, ambitious and, when it comes to the crucial things, hopeless ... Milking the glory of the gig ...  Introducing Tippy, our new blogger filing from within the concrete cage at Queens Square ... From Justinian's Archive, March 15, 2010 ...  Read more >> 


 

 

« Jay Williams | Main | Dispatches from the front line »
Thursday
Mar202014

Don Weatherburn

Don Weatherburn is the hard facts man of the NSW criminal justice system ... He reminds the politicians that statistics don't lie ... A man who has blended a love of crime with a love of statistics ... He's on Justinian's couch, which is as good a reason as any to mention his new book, Arresting Incarceration 

Don Weatherburn, looking for monstera deliciosa

DON Weatherburn is the director of the legendary NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research - and has been for the last 26 years. 

Not only has he survived in the hurly-burly of the NSW public service, he's flourished and built BOCSAR into a revered institution. 

Weatherburn and his team keep on producting the data and the politicians keep on moulding it into exciting shapes. 

Weatherburn has recently produced a book, Arresting Incarceration, addressing one of our pressing sores - the alarming rate of imprisonment for Indigenous Australians. 

He examines previously unpublished data and dares to contradict some conventional wisdoms - including the parts played by racial bias and Indigenous empowerment. 

Here's the man himself, on the couch, stretched out for inspection ...

Describe yourself in three words.

Curious, good-humoured, blunt. 

What are you currently reading?

'Spirit House' by Mark Dapin. 

What's your favourite film?

Ingmar Bergman's 'The Seventh Seal'. 

What is your favourite piece of music?

Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto. 

Who has been the most influential person in your life ... and why? 

My mother - because she knew how to laugh at herself.

What is in your refrigerator?

Lots, because my wife has been away for a week and I wanted to prove I could keep the kids alive. 

What is your favourite website?

The Bureau of Meteorology website.

If you were on death row, what would be your request for your last meal?

Garlic prawns, whiting fillets cooked in tempura batter, a bottle of Howard Park sauvignon blanc and a large plate of nembutal. 

What words or phrases do you overuse?

Does a wild duck fly?

Was there an important opportunity that you didn't take ... and if so what was it?

I was once asked by crooked security consultant how much he'd have to pay me to access to our crime stats. I said 'nothing, they're on our website'. 

You're a psychologist by training. How did that lead to crime stats and research?

By accident. I like statistics, I like crime and I found a job that let's me apply the first to the second. 

In a nutshell, what's your prescription for the unacceptably high rates of Aboriginal incarceration?

Less parental drug and alcohol abuse, better parenting, improved school performance, more jobs. 

What is the most unexpected or disturbing finding of the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research?

How few programs reduce the rate of re-offending. 

What's your most glamorous feature?

My huge brawny torso.

If you were a foodstuff, what would you be? 

Monstera deliciosa.

What human quality do you most distrust?

Altruism.

What would you change about Australia?

The standard of political debate in State and Federal Parliament.

Whom or what do you consider overrated?

Management consultants.

What would your epitaph say? 

Illegitimi non carborundum. 

What comes into your mind when you shut your eyes and think of the word "law"?

Criminal opportunity. 

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Editor Permission Required
You must have editing permission for this entry in order to post comments.