General Chat

My view on sentencing is that if someone is given life it should mean the term of their natural life. If it says 25 years then it should mean 25 years. No early releases....just additional time for bad behaviour. eg 10 years but up to 5 years extra for bad behaviour etc.

I agree in principle Kay but does that really work? When does a person become 'incapable'? That would be so difficult to enforce.

Errol :-) I'm glad you clarified that as you made no specific references to the news article and I didn't automatically connect the two. That's why I asked for a specific example earlier lol :-) ~~~waves to Rose~~~~~

Full life term for ** blatent** murder---what ever the circumstances ,,, Sliding scale for child abusers,,meaning till they are too old to carry out their evil acts,,,

eh? lol Lesley I was talking about the news today and the fact that Tony Blair has defended moves to jail only the most dangerous and persistent of criminals. Again, if you committed a crime last year and were jailed and someone committed exactly the same crime under precisely the same circumstances next week, would you not be a little browned off that they were allowed 'another chance'.

Lesley it was on the news today and in the papers and there was also another thread up about it this afternoon. Hello by the way Rosex

Has there been something in the news that that has prompted you to say this or are you just talking about Elaine and Puss?

Gwynne I am not talking about the judicial process, I am talking about the punishment meted out for identical crimes once a person is found guilty. The judicial process is an entirely different argument surely.

We seem to have come full circle. It's impossible to speak about punishment in general terms when cases in the UK are judged individually. I think that they always should be, I'm not in favour of across the board punishment for any crime - mitigating circumstances must always be taken into account Apart from child abusers, and they should be locked up for life. Gwynne

I refer back to the original comments. Imagine how a person would feel who was currently in custody who read a paper and saw that someone charged with an identical offence may now escape a custodial sentence!

The problem is, too many people pussyfoot around these days.

Errol, Are you able to think of an example offhand because I cannot immediately think of 2 similar cases where the public reaction has been so different? Thanks Lesley

No Lesley - was speaking in general terms

I think we probably would, Lesley. Gwynne

Lesley that is often downgraded to manslaughter. Yes every case absolutely must be taken on its own merits but I was referring to similar crimes where there is outrage over one defendant and glee or at least satisfaction that another gets their 'just desserts'. Makes one wonder whether we are all subjective or objective.

i just saw this on the news Rosex

Added by Guinevere on 24/01/2007 23:03:13 I think we probably would, Lesley. Gwynne I have to agree with you Gwynne!! I always do, lol

Gwynne, This is getting spooky lol i bet if we meet in real life, we won't agree on anything lol

Errol, Are you thinking of a particular example? x lesley

i think there should be better guidelines serial killers life as in life. child abuse minimum 25 years, x