General Chat

i just saw this on the news Rosex

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 think we probably would, Lesley. Gwynne

No Lesley - was speaking in general terms

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

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

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!

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

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.

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

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

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'.

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,,,

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~~~~~

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

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.

Apologies if I was not clear Lesley. My basic point is about parity. And thank you for your excellent input!

I knew where you were coming from Errol I saw this on the news earlier. I do agree. If it is wrong one time it's wrong another. I would be very upset if i commited a crime last year only to watch someone else get off with a lighter sentence this year. There is most definately a need for parity in sentencing - you have made a very good point xx

Derek Williams in Blaenau Ffestiniog - I rest my case!

With all due respect, things do change. Otherwise we would still hang people for sheep-stealing. The law must have changed at some point and those who were hanged cannot be brought back for re-sentencing. Same issue, different era, different crime.