2010 John Barry Memorial Lecture “Ned Kelly, John Barry and the role of social activism in...

2010 John Barry Memorial Lecture

“Ned Kelly, John Barry and the role of social activism in criminal justice reform.”

Peter Norden AO, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow

Ned Kelly in chains (1880)

Ronald Ryan, last man hanged in Australia (1967)

Forty years on, exhumation of Ronald Ryan (2007)

John Barry (1920)

John Barry, 1941 (aged 38)

“Ned Kelly, A short life”Ian Jones

John Barry, 1928 (aged 25)

John Barry (centre front) Adult Parole Board, 1957

Those who profess to favour freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without ploughing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightening; they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters… Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will”.

Frederick Douglass (1860)Advocating against slavery in the US.

Jika Jika prison

Four of the five prisoners who died in Jika Jika (1987)

Families dealing with the impact of Jika Jika

Jika Jika prison

Activism in different forms

Analysis of Repeat Imprisonment Trends in Australia from 1994 to 2007

• From 1994 to 2007 the prisoner population increased by an average of 3.7% per year.

• The number of prisoners with prior imprisonment grew by an average of 3.2% per year.

• Both prisoner populations grew faster than Australia’s total population, which grew by an average of 1.3% per year.

2010 John Barry Memorial Lecture

Watch this lecture online:

www.live.unimelb.edu.au/

“Ned Kelly, John Barry and

the role of social activism in criminal

justice reform.”

Peter Norden AOVice-Chancellor’s

Fellow