RELATED: One punch and it's a stint in jail
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THE Victorian government will this week introduce tough new sentencing laws that will see people who kill with a single blow put behind bars for a mandatory 10 years.
The law will give Victoria the toughest “one-punch” legislation in the country — going a step further than NSW’s eight-year mandatory sentence introduced earlier this year — and will no doubt be welcomed in some respect by the families of victims who have fallen to prey to such attacks.
Premier Denis Napthine has said the laws are designed to stop “unspeakable acts of cowardice” and would send a clear message that violence would not be tolerated.
For those of us on the Border, it means whichever side of the Murray you are on, you can expect alcohol-fuelled street violence — as most of these attacks so often are — will be treated in the same manner.
And make no mistake, it is still as much a problem in regional areas as it is the cities, with several one-punch incidents already reported on the Border this year.
Will the legislation work? Time will tell.
But one hopes it will make people think twice about their actions.