GordyL wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 2:40pm:


And I think the fact that it's a custodial sentence is the important point. If you raise the issue with an imam or community leader, they'll now say it's a jailable offence.

I don't know much about home detention, but I imagine all sorts of people are assessed for this. It's not a reflection of the sentence, but which prisoners are suitable.

Karnal wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 2:54pm:


I have some knowledge of the perception of how different kinds of sentencing is perceived in a particular ethnic community, gained from a  friend who is a court appointed interpretation and a PA for a drug lawyer.

Suspended sentence = I got away with it, I can set up my next hydro house tomorrow.

Home detention = bummer, I can't leave home to set up my next hydro house but at lease I can be at home with the family.

GordyL wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 3:00pm:


True, but this is a legal precedent.

A suspended sentence is a sentence in itself. In this instance, you say you got a suspended sentence and a good behavior bond. It's not detention.

Home detention is classed as incarceration. Some people who are sentenced to jail are assessed for their suitability for home detention. I have no idea what criteria this assessment is based on, but it's a custodial sentence - unlike a suspended sentence.

GordyL wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 3:31pm:


True, Gordy, but we don't cut hands off here. I think you're getting caught up on home detention - a way custodial sentences are served for all sorts of crimes.

To be honest, I don't think home detention sounds like too much of a punishment for women who don't get out much, but I don't know much about it. What restrictions are there? No one here seems to know.

Apart from Homo, of course, but he's not saying.  

GordyL wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 3:59pm:


Thanks, Gordy. Your article seems to be saying most crimes are suitable for home detention.

Quote:


From your article, it doesn't sound as if home detention would cramp anyone's style.

Mr Hammer wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2016 at 3:09pm:



I have, dear. It's a cultural practice that precedes Islam.

The Soviets had an interesting measure for these sorts of cultural practices. If they were religious, they were banned. If they were classed as cultural, they were okay.

Under the Soviets, male circumcision for Jews was banned. Circumcision was in their religious texts, and therefore banned as religious. Muslims, however, were free to practice circumcision, and did. To this day, most Russian Jews remain uncircumcised. In Israel, Russian Jews are seen as separate for this very reason.

Male and female circumcision in the Middle East goes back to ancient Egypt - at least. Muslims have held onto it, and it has spread with Islam.

In some cultures, it has remained after Islam left. Boys between 7 and 13 are circumcised all over the Philippines, even though they became Catholics under the Spanish. Every year, "tuli" ceremonies take place in the villages and cities in a very similar manner to the local Muslim communities in the region.

How does the fact that it predates Islam explain the significant variation among Muslims, Atheists and Protestants?

Female genital mutilation persists despite ban

Though the Indonesian government banned female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) four years ago, experts say religious support for the practice is more fervent than ever, particularly in rural communities.

A lack of regulation since the ban makes it difficult to monitor, but medical practitioners say FGM/C remains commonplace for women of all ages in this emerging democracy of 240 million - the world’s largest Muslim nation.

Although not authorized by the Koran, the practice is growing in popularity.

  With increased urging of religious leaders, baby girls are now losing the top or part of their clitoris in the name of faith, sometimes in unsanitary rooms with tools as crude as scissors.

“We fear if [FGM/C] gets more outspoken support from religious leaders it will increase even more. We found in our latest research that not only female babies are being circumcised, but also older women ask for it,” said Artha Budi Susila Duarsa, a university researcher at Yarsi University in Jakarta.

While the procedure in Indonesia is not as severe as in parts of Africa and involves cutting less flesh, it still poses a serious health concern.

“Even a small wound on the genitals can lead to sexual, physiological and physical problems,” Duarsa said.

Indonesia forbade health officials from the practice in 2006 because they considered it a “useless” practice that “could potentially harm women's health”.

However, the ban was quickly opposed by the Indonesian Ulema Council, the highest Islamic advisory body in Indonesia.

In March this year, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, issued an edict supporting FGM/C, though a leading cleric told the NU’s estimated 40 million followers “not to cut too much”.

“It is against human rights,” said Maria Ulfah Anshor, a women’s rights activist and former chair of the women’s wing of the NU. “For women there is absolutely no benefit and advantage.”

Changing perceptions

FGM/C traditionally existed as a sign of chastity; a symbolic practice performed by shamans, or local healers, who used crude methods such as rubbing and scraping.

With shamans largely falling out of favour, the religious are turning to midwives who rely more on cutting instead.

“Midwives don’t know what they are doing. They were never taught the practice at school, so they do the same with girls as with boys: they cut,” Anshor said.

During the 32-year Suharto dictatorship, outspoken religious expression was discouraged, but since his fall in 1998, people started looking for their religious identity, with stricter interpretations of Islam being adopted by scores of municipalities.

More Indonesian Muslim women wear a headscarf now, claiming it is more accepted than it was 15 years ago.

Forbidden, but unregulated

The 2006 ban prohibited FGM/C, but in practice there is no oversight.