Ridding society from graffiti vandals - A new approach to stopping graffiti

I have a new proposal to help stop graffiti! Great I hear you say... tell us more.

OK, let me tell you straight out, I actually don't mind the original graffiti, real graffiti. The stuff we used to get years ago from people that were intelligent and were real artists:

Both of the above examples I think are great. They show real artistry and cleverness.

What gets on my goat are useless tags just by themselves. To me, tagging without adding any real content is plain straight out vandalism. I remember one morning a couple of years ago seeing a couple of guys creating graffiti artwork over a few mornings on a wall in a park. It looked fantastic. I only wish now I'd taken a snap of it back then whilst it was still on the wall.

A week or so after it was completed, I saw the same couple of lads one morning standing in front of their work and it was pretty much destroyed by tags. I can only imagine the thoughts going through their heads. Why would a tagger destroy the work of a fellow graffiti artist? Jealousy? Who knows...

Either way, our current laws are definitely not a deterrent to graffiti vandals. The Australian government has no balls so wouldn't enact any of my proposals anyway - but it's food for thought.

My proposal is to have those graffiti vandals who are caught and found guilty to have a finger surgically removed every time they are caught. The finger to be removed depends on whether it is public or private property which is defaced. If it's public property and a first offence, the finger removed would be the little pinky on the non main hand. It would be scaled accordingly every time they are caught and convicted. A different finger for offence seriousness.

I think however, unless the vandal was totally stupid, that it would only ever get to the one finger stage when most of the vandals would decide to give up there hobby (for fear of losing another finger).

Am I being too tough ? I don't think so. What gives graffiti vandals the right to damage public and private property? We all have to live in our city. Why do we have to put up with a few vandals that think it's OK to deface everything? Do you think the answer would be to create graffiti parks - like skateboard parks - whereby they can tag and draw away as much as they like?

OK, if you think my suggestion of having a finger removed is too "over the top" - what about this? When a graffiti vandal is caught and convicted. The punishment is to have the vandals front of the family home covered in graffiti (This assumes the vandal is living at home with the parents). The effect of this punishment creates embarrasment for the family, who then (under normal circumstances) would come down heavily on the vandal and they'd set the vandal the task of repainting and/or cleaning the front of the house.

If the vandal was over 18 and/or not living at home, they could be fined say, $4,000 to be paid within six months else personal possessions would be seized instead eg, Laptop, iPod, TV, Skateboards, Computer etc.

For those who say my thoughts on punishment are so way over the top they are ridiculous, look at the following grab of a reported news item from Singapore:

SINGAPORE –  SINGAPORE (AP) — Singapore sentenced a Swiss man to three strokes of a cane and five months in prison Friday for spray-painting graffiti on a subway car, reinforcing the city-state's reputation for severely punishing minor crimes. Vandalism in Singapore carries a mandatory three to eight strokes of a cane and a fine of up to SG$2,000 Singapore dollars ($1,437) or up to three years in jail.

OK, they don't cut off fingers, BUT, they have one of the cleanest cities in the world and with one of the highest living standards in the world. Why? Because they are tough on vandals, none of this pussy-footing around like we do in Australia. The would be vandals are pretty much too damn scared of doing anything in case the get caught. Great!! Bring this type of punishment to Australia.

I also noted in the story that Singapore has government sanctioned area's for graffiti artists to display their work. Walls were specifically built in certain area's for graffiting - great idea.

If any graffiti artists and/or vandals are reading this story, I'd be interested in hearing your side of the matter. Serious answers with some thought in them would be great instead of "yeah man, coz its kool".

• Do you graffiti public only or private only area's, or you don't care?
• Do you think about what would happen to you if you're caught?
• Do you care if you're caught?
• If caught, do you think "I'm under 18, stuff all will happen"?
• Do you think about your family and what they will think of you if you're caught?
• If you rented a house with mates and someone graffiti'd your front fence, would you care?
• If the owner or agent of the rented house said it's your responsibility to clean the graffiti on the front fence, what would you think?
• If you just took out a loan to buy a nice Holden/Ford Ute or other car of your dreams, is it OK for other people to graffiti your car?
• Do you think it's OK to graffiti other peoples property? Do you consider the dollar cost to them to re-paint or have the area cleaned?
• Do you consider your graffiti to be "artwork" or if it's just a tag, why is it important for you to put your tag on something?
• In 12 years time, when you're (maybe) out of the graffiti phase and you've just bought a house, have a great partner, good job, and some 14 year old tags your fence, is that OK?
• Would you leave the tag(s) on the fence and be proud that you used to do the same thing?
• Are there places you wouldn't tag or graffiti?

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