Legal Madness
 

Just watching the news and I find to my horror that a guy who downloaded child porn has been in front of a judge is back home. The reason being that the jails are too full so The Honourable John Reid sent out letters and guidelines that only the serious criminal and the dangerous should only be jailed. Now hang on I would have thought that downloading child porn would make this guy dangerous. The sentance 6 months yes 6 months and that is suspended for 2 years and what comes from the court its the home offices fault. What ever happened to "do the crime do the time" did it go the way of the Dodo? What a screwed up way to run the criminal justice system.

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prisons are full because IMO they got thier priorities wrong and fill them with non payments of fines and other minor crimes .. I agree spug this is absurd ..just seen it myself

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I am speechless 'and that is a first', why do the powers that be always start at the wrong end? why not chuck a few non payment of fine prisoners, who find it more convenient to pay the fine with a bit of porridge. To initiate a new directive by letting a paedeofile off is nothing short of lunacy.

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Here is the Story.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/6299727.stm

IT does'nt supprise me.:mad:

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whats worse is the guy in question was on the news with his wife sat by him defending the fookin judge for lettin him off:mad: :mad:

HELLO........................

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Because of Reid's new guidelines, the Suffolk strangler will probably only get community service, because killing five women wasn't persistent enough.

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lord falcolner was on newsnight,basically saying the judge was working to guidelines put in long ago. so that makes it ok?:mad:

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I say put convicts to work in chain gangs...building more damn prisons.

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thats not the solution-so they say pmsl. it was also said on the programme that lookin at calculations the 8000 extra prison places that will be created by 2012 are TOTALLY INADEQUATE for the projected prison population then.:confused:

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ERE ERE BUT THEN THATS EXTRA COST TO STAFF THEM....

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no it aint when you think about it,on a chain gang theres only 2 or 3 staff, theres more than that on 1 wing in a prison.

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No because there wouldn't be any staff, as I would make them build it on an uninhabited Scottish island.

Supplies would be dropped off weekly with more new inmates.

Let the buggers police themselves and try and learn some respect for other people.

The only staff needed would be a man in a boat with a gun.:)

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Put garinda in charge of the chain gang 'cashy', there will be a new nick every week, or better still get Gail and garinda to set them to work on Panecticons, that should be enough to cure even the most hardened re-offender.:D

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It'd be more use than them sat on their arses playing on their Play Stations all day, or sewing mail bags. They'd be learning a useful skill.

Vinegar tits Vera from Prisoner in Cell Block H would have nothing on me. I'd teach those lags some respect.:D

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crush peadophiles skulls under large rocks, would save the expense of building anyway.

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See, we've already saved money on the foundations.:)

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So Come On G ..if You Were In The Judges Position ..what Would You Have Done ...not Putting You On The Spot Just Wondered How Others May Have Gone About It........he Were Really Left With No Choice And Now This Scumbag Perv Is Gloating....

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I think the Judge, given the new guide lines from John Reid this week about who does and doesn't qualify for a custodial sentence, sadly had no choice. I suspect the Judge himself is highly unhappy with his enforced ruling, hence him making it publicly known.

The whole thing is a disgrace, and the book stops with the short sightedness of this and previous governments, who have known about the chronic shortages of prison places for well over two decades.

Tough on crime my arse.

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I suspect the Judge himself is highly unhappy with his enforced ruling, hence him making it publicly known.


yeah i do agree ....him making it publicly known will and has brought awareness of the pressure they are under



The whole thing is a disgrace, and the books stop with the short sightedness of this and previous governments, who have known about the chronic shortages of prison places for over two decades.

Tough on crime my arse.



So surely now its time for the government to wake up to reallity of the true custodial sentancing system that we have and kick arse where it needs kicking?....



I try to stay away from politics as much as i can mainly because im (in honesty) a bit ignorant of it ..but when something like this comes along it really gets my back up..but what really got me today was the guy on tv praising the judges decision ..the only good thing that came from it is everyone knows his face ....

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That was a very good post cherokee, never mind staying away from politics get involved, these pages do get read by the 'powers that be', the only way to change things is by voicing your opinion and do not be afraid to do it.

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because of this obsurdness not one single home is afe in the UK because burgulars know damn well they wont be going to jail if caught

if they can knock up a new tesco in a couple of weeks then surely they can make prisons

muggers will have a field day , its hard enough getting them in prison in teh first place so now it will be near impossible

this is an absolute disgrace and gives the green light to every criminal or thug in the country to do practicaly anything they like

how many women who suffer from stalkers , violent ex partners etc are now at risk because the threat of prison has been removed

jesus christ i know labour have screwed up a lot lately but this is just an embaracement and tony blair shoudl step down with imidiate effect and let somone else take over , he has been so busy medaling in other coutries affairs and looking after american interests he hasnt kept his eye on whats happening in the UK

bring back hanging for murder , that should clear up a few cells

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Hit the nail right on the head there. Just think of the millions of pounds wasted on a pointless and disastrous military adventure in Iraq to satisfy America's thirst for oil and Blair's thirst for world statesmanship status. That money would have been better spent on a comprehensive prison building programme to provide spartan, but secure accommodation for various low lifes who are currently polluting our streets.

And to think, this was the government that promised to be "tough on crime". They should hang their heads in shame.

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They should stop treating Criminals better that working class citizens.

Happen we should outsorce, send all (proven Guilty) Nonces, rapists and murders ect, to say a South African Prison, pay them so much per head and job done.:)

I wish.

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Bang On MrD= They should stop treating criminals better than working class citizens. cannot agree with outsource though,just dumping the scum on someone else. still think my idea was best/cheapest= EXECUTE the perverted gits,job sorted.

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Execution would be good but will never happen unfortunatly.

I watched a program about a prison (with Grant from Eastenders) in South Africa, and it looks like it would suit these 'scum of the earth' down to a treat.

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Its absurd that he is off scot free, agree glad his face is now public.

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Didn,t realise you were a mate of Grants,:D

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I helped him out of a river one time.:)

Re: Legal Madness
 

As I understand it every single crime on the statute book has a minimum and maximum punishment attached to it. The judiciary apply a punishment that is either the min or max or somewhere in between depending on the actual case. For the Home Office (John Reid) to broadly hint to the judges that they should avoid sending people to prison because they are full is – well you put your own expletives in here.

As a victim of crime on several occasions I can claim to speak with some authority on how a victim feels. The first feeling is, “I wish that it never happened” but sadly we cannot go back in time. Once you get over the initial shock your thoughts turn to the criminal. You want him/her punished severely enough to make him/her think twice about repeating the crime on someone else or even yourself. You want full restitution if the crime has been against your property and some compensation. There is little satisfaction in knowing that the criminal has gone to prison for a while when your property has been stolen or smashed. You have to replace it somehow whether it is by insurance premiums or cash. No amount of money will compensate you for a crime against the person but it helps the healing process both physical and mental. If you do get compensated for a crime against the person, it is taxpayer’s money (criminal injuries fund) that is used, not the criminals. S/he is languishing in prison. Which I might add is more comfortable than that for a serving soldier, sailor or airman and they can get shot at and have bombs and shells chucked at them. Not forgetting the odd chemical or gas.

Fining a criminal may seem like a good solution for what people call petty crimes (they aren’t petty to the victim) but if s/he has nothing then s/he cannot pay so more public money is wasted bringing the criminal back before the courts – just to get another fine.

Much of the ‘petty’ crime is perpetrated by people who have nothing, exist on dole money etc and want something. So they go and steal it. Although a large proportion of burglaries and muggings are the work of junkies trying to fund their habit.

Some just don’t bother paying a fine knowing full well that there is a fifty-fifty chance of getting away with it. If the courts actually get the money it rarely, if ever, covers the cost of collecting it. I know of one person who ran into the back of my car (drunk, no tax, no insurance and already banned from driving), was fined and ordered to pay for the repairs. After TWENTY ODD YEARS I have yet to see one single penny from this guy.

ASBO’s and tagging are a waste of time and money except for the minority. Too many young thugs see them as a badge of honour and flout them anyway.

Only fine a criminal if it can be established that s/he has the means to pay and then fine them an amount related to their income. Say 50% of their weekly income for up to 8 weeks.

The greater majority of prisoners locked up are re-offenders, which says a lot about a spell of porridge.

In my view a criminal should first be punished for the crime with a severity, within the bounds of humane treatment, that will make him/her think twice before going off the rails again. In other words make them work hard for 8 hours a day with only the very basic privileges. Then would come a period of making him/her see the error of his/her ways in what is know as rehabilitation where additional privileges could be EARNED. And training in some skill so that once released the prisoner would have the means of earning a living during a final period of parole. Any violations along the way would automatically send the person back to jail to start all over again.

Of course there will always be a few ‘hard cases’ who would not buckle under and this is where the phrase “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” could come into play.

Finally, if re-offenders didn’t re-offend we could probably close down at least a quarter of the prisons. This would release more staff to the existing ones to ensure that prison meant what it is supposed to. A PUNISHMENT!

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I wonder what the punishment guidelines are now?

Robbery = Say sorry and give back 10% of takings?

Assualt = Buy them a box of plasters?

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Simple,,,,, Bring back the birch,,,,,

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Things just don't seem to add up.. the vast majority of the post on here (and probably the general public) say more offenders should be jailed, but the man in charge of policy on young offenders put in his resignation today stating the reason for his resignation was that Goverment policy is swamping prisons with young offenders convicted of minor crimes.

I don't know the exact figures but the prison population has gone up by several thousands over the past 8 years,the goverment claim to have created provisions to accomadate 20,000 more convicts than ten years ago and that offenders are more likely to face jail now than in the past.

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hes right , young offenders shoudlnt be sent to prison

they should be sent to do hard labour in boot camps