All Men Are Created Equal?

Over the last few years in Australia, Melbourne specifically, there has been a bit of a gangland war going on. One of the main protagonists has charged and found guilty and received a long prison sentence in a maximum security prison.

This week he was killed. An fellow inmate has been charged. There is much controversy over how it happened being that he was meant to be supervised at all times and there are allegations that this wasn't the case for the crucial 25 minutes it took for him to be discovered, stories that the cctv footage of the said period has apparently gone missing and hints of the corruption of police and prison officers are being plastered over the front page of the papers. Three individual inquiries have been launched into the whole affair - plus there will be the trial of the man arrested for the crime.

There have also been calls for a royal inquiry-type commission to look into the issues raised by the attack. The Government has refused this - because it sees it as a waste of taxpayers money into a known serial killer. Now if they rejected the idea for reasons that the other inquiries would achieve the answers or a similar reason, well I wouldn't have a problem.

I do have a problem with the lack of a Commission for the official reason give. Yes the guy was a nasty piece of work and I can't imagine too many people grieving for his passing. But are we not all equal before the law? And is his murder of any less importance than those he committed? And is not the potential of corruption of members of the judicial system not of wider concern to the community as a whole?

It all makes me think ... and I am not really liking the results of these thoughts.