Is the high crime rate in Australia because they are all descendants of criminals?

Let's start with the origin of "exiles".

This penalty originated in ancient Rome and prevailed in Britain in the 18 and 19 centuries. Every year, thousands of prisoners are "sent to travel abroad" in the form of exile by the British imperial government.

Being exiled to an unknown country seems extremely cruel, but for condemned prisoners who are doomed to death, this is already a great favor given by the British royal family.

Although due to the bad conditions on board, many prisoners died of illness during the voyage and were buried in the sea.

So, where did the British first exile the prisoners?

From the beginning of16th century to the middle of100th century, North American colonies have always been their only choice.

After arriving in North America, criminals mainly worked as indentured laborers on large farms where there were few people and birds didn't lay eggs.

Criminals engaged in cotton cultivation in labor-intensive industries are even worse.

Since the independence of the United States in 1776, farmers began to reduce the introduction of British criminals as slaves, because they found that black brothers from Africa were cheaper.

After the bad business in North America, Britain once stopped its exile plan.

Due to the British industrial revolution in the18th century, a large number of rural people flooded into cities, and cities were overcrowded, social contradictions intensified and the crime rate remained high.

Soon after, the British prisons were overcrowded, the internal security management was chaotic, and the British government was also a headache.

In order to set an example for others, the British government tightened the law, and the bloody code came into being, in which the definition of crime was greatly adjusted, and the combined punishment for several crimes was changed to the death penalty.

At this time, james cook, a famous British navigator, suggested that it is better to send criminals to the newly discovered Australian continent to engage in reclamation, so that this "virgin land" can develop rapidly and serve the British Empire.

As a result, in order to show the "mercy" of the British Empire, a large number of death row prisoners were caught on ships bound for Australia, although their crimes were not serious.

After more than ten years of planning and preparation, the British government finally began to exile the first batch of criminals to Australia in 1787.

Criminals who arrived in Australia early were quite free. Except for the reclamation period similar to commuting time, they are basically unconstrained and can even own their own property.

Australia's commodity economy has gradually developed because of the arrival of these people.

Criminals who mix well are even more carefree in Australia than British workers.

So many criminals choose to settle in Australia, get married and have children, and have children. After completing a certain period of reclamation, they can get commutation and parole, have the right to choose a new job, and even get a piece of land allocated by the government.

Where there are rewards, there are punishments. Prisoners who behave badly will be sent to Port Arthur in southern Tasmania for imprisonment.

So, the view that the ancestors of Australians were prisoners seems to have a historical basis?

No, this is still prejudice under colored glasses.

1822, British legislation encouraged its citizens to immigrate to Australia voluntarily, and gave some financial aid (at least 500 pounds) and land subsidies.

After 1840, with the reduction and control of the number of criminals, Britain began to reduce the transport of prisoners to Australia; By 1868, the exile plan was completely stopped. In 87, Britain sent about160,000 prisoners to Australia.

The number of free immigrants in the 19 century alone exceeded 1 10,000, far exceeding the total number of exiled prisoners.

Then, probably less than 10% of Australians are descendants of criminals.

The British Empire exiled prisoners to North America 160 and Australia for more than 80 years.

Speaking of descendants of criminals, there are more descendants of criminals in the United States and Canada than in Australia.

The idea that Australians are descendants of criminals is naked prejudice.

At that time, criminals and people exiled because of political movements came to this distant southern continent together. It is because of their struggle that one of the most unfree and unequal lands on earth has become a modern democratic country and has survived to this day.

So, which pioneers of Australian democratic process should we know in history?

A study called "Conviction Politics Project", led by Tony Moore of Monash University, focuses on the relationship between criminals and the democratic process in Australia, focusing on two groups that have laid the foundation for Australian democracy: political prisoners and ordinary criminals who fight for their own rights and interests.

"Charter democracy"

Among the political prisoners exiled to Australia, there is a man named Thomas Muir. He is a very talented lawyer and a Scottish radical eager for democratic reform. 1793 was sentenced for sedition, 14 was exiled to New South Wales.

After coming to Australia, he didn't put down his job and defended freedom in the embryonic legal system of the colony. He believes that it is illegal for exiled Scots to remain imprisoned in Australia. He argued that since these people were only punished by exile, they should enjoy the freedom rights of the British as long as they did not return to the British mainland. "This is a very convincing view," Dr. Moore said.

But his idea was not supported by the British government at that time, and London thought it would be a blow to the criminal exile transportation system.

Although Moore finally boldly planned to escape from the colony, his speeches and propaganda have sown the seeds of democracy in this land.

In Britain, his radical proposal on universal suffrage and working class inclusiveness gave birth to a political reform movement called Charter Movement.

From the early to the middle of19th century, Chartists became a new radical view in British politics.

Chartists' charter:

Everyone has the right to vote (universal suffrage)

Voting shall be conducted by secret ballot.

Parliamentary elections are held every year, not every five years.

The size of the constituencies should be equal.

Councillors should be paid

The property requirement for becoming a member of parliament should be abolished.

Although the core of the so-called six-point plan in the Charter is the peaceful movement, it often ends in violence.

"Australia is often called chartist democracy because by 1856 and the next decade, many of the six points advocated by chartists had been realized in Victoria and New South Wales," Dr. Moore said.

"This is because the main chartists were exiled to Australia between 1839 and 1848."

William Coffey is one of these chartists. He was accused of plotting an uprising and was exiled to Australia. Later, he became one of the first advocates of the Australian trade union movement.

The most influential movement he led was against the Master-Servant Act, which Dr Moore said tied "free labor" to employers and restricted their rights.

According to the bill, employees who leave their jobs without authorization will be held accountable by the authorities.

Decades after being pardoned, Kufa continued to fight for the democratic rights of criminals.

In the late 1950s, 19, the Australian colonies began to grant men universal suffrage.

William Coufen is probably the most famous chartist in Australia.

The footsteps of Irish revolutionaries

In addition to chartists, there are Irish radicals in Australia.

Kevin O'Doherty, a young medical student, was exiled on 1848 for sedition. After coming to Vanderman's land (the old name of Tasmania), he contributed to the publication of a magazine called Irish Felony.

Dr Moore said: "This magazine covers all kinds of colonial issues, including criticizing the unfair treatment of Australian aborigines by many colonists who lived before them." .

O'Doherty moved to Queensland after bail, and eventually became the first health minister of Queensland, leading a number of health care reforms.

Another Irish revolutionary, william smith Smith O 'Brien, became a key figure to stop Britain from sending criminals to Australia.

He was once held in solitary confinement in a high-security prison on the island of Maria off the coast of Tasmania, and Dr Moore described him as "a character like nelson mandela".

He grew from a prison cell to a leader of the anti-exile movement. The movement called on Britain to stop sending criminals to Australia.

Dr. Moore said: "This movement has won the support of the working class and businessmen. They hope that Van Diemen can change from plantation slavery to a more modern and fairer economic environment."

O 'Brien also wrote a book and drafted an ideal democratic constitution, which echoed the agenda of the Chartists.

"Under the global movement calling for O 'Brien's release, his ideas were finally legalized and gradually promulgated in Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania since the 1950s," Dr. Moore said.

"But Ireland didn't realize his idea until the 20 th century."

From the Irish Uprising to the early Queensland Parliament, Kevin O'Doherty maintained his enthusiasm for the revolution.

The road to struggle for ordinary criminals

There are also many criminals who are forced to commit crimes because of poverty and then exiled to Australia. In those days, petty theft was enough to constitute a felony of being exiled to the other side of the world.

Faced with unpaid labor, food shortage and severe punishment, many men and women who came to Australia embarked on the road of political struggle as soon as they arrived. Collective action is the means of their struggle.

According to the estimation of labor historian Michael Quinlan, at least 400,000 criminals were tried for expressing dissent at that time, which was a shocking wave of resistance.

"Generally speaking, a criminal has been brought to court more than six times," he said.

"Most of these cases are related to work-related objections."

Collective absconding, strikes and refusal to work are common.

"Some of them tried to escape the colony completely by stealing ships, but more people moved to other places just to find jobs, escape the shackles and earn wages."

"Democracy is not based on personal experience-it is based on the collective action of people who demand more say."

Nowadays, people are re-examining the collective actions of these criminals in a way of 2 1 century.

As part of the criminal politics project, all detailed criminal records in Tasmania have been digitized.

Hate inequality

By the end of 19, Australia was called the world social laboratory because of its rapidly formed democratic system and progressive social policies.

Dr Moore says this fact is little known.

"From the point of view that the chartists require the working class to participate in politics, we have achieved a democratic constitution, which is far ahead of Britain," he said.

"But we don't even celebrate or understand this."

"In Australia, the movement for equality began in the middle of19th century, because criminals hated inequality from the beginning."

Soon after the colony got a responsible government, all the British [exiled] got the votes and the parliamentarians got their salaries.

Many freedoms and institutions that Australians enjoy today can be traced back to the resistance and efforts of criminals who are often forgotten. Some of them are radical people, while others become radical after coming here.

"In the late 1950s and 1960s, 19, one of the least free jurisdictions on earth became a fairly free and democratic country," Dr. Moore said.

"Australia is not just a distant corner of the world."

"If you are divorced from world history, it means that Australians have not treated themselves fairly."

However, Dr. Moore said that "the struggle for democracy and human rights has never ended" and pointed out the plight of indigenous people during the colonial period.

"Colonization, deprivation, imprisonment and continuous invasion of aborigines by colonists are the main obstacles to Australia's democratic process," he said.

"The conclusion of treaties and the inclusion of indigenous participation in the federal and state constitutions remain the unfinished business of decolonization and democracy in Australia."

"This is also the theme of people's active struggle today."