Oh really?
Yes, just ONE person was sentenced to the full four year jail term. Of course, by "four years", what they actually mean is "two years" (automatic release scheme), which then with a one third reduction for a guilty plea (even if the guilty plea comes at the door of the court, after going not-guilty for months before, running up a huge legal-aid bill and forcing the police and CPS to build up a full case against you) becomes 16 months.
So, one person was given the maximum sentence of four years, which in this country means 16 months.
That's not really relevant though, as only 1 in 5 offenders caught with a knife went to jail anyway.
I don't know why people bother with knives anyway, because even if you're caught with a shooter, you've only got a 4-1 chance of heading behind bars.
My favourite part from this one is how the absolute minimum sentence for possessing a firearm is 5 years; the only way of not imposing it is for m'learned friend to deem that there are "exceptional circumstances".
Exceptional circumstances. Now to me (an uneducated oik), that means that the circumstances have to be exceptional for the judge not to sentence 5 years.
Our learned and wise friends found circumstances so exceptional that they gave less than absolute minimum in no less than half of all cases.
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Prison sentences have always been, and indeed will always be, contraversial. There's no getting away from that.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to tudy up the system though, there are a number of things you've got to take care of.
First of all, if you're going to hold people for longer - or even if you're just going to leave matters as they currently are, then you need to build more prisons. The service needs the capacity if is to be expected to meet demand...
The next question is "Is it right that prisoners should be able to be released early, as a reward for good behaviour or because they are not a risk?"
Personally, I think yes - but it's the scale of the "discount" that is causing the problems. Half of the original sentence for example (being the norm) is clearly crazy.
So I would do one of two things - either a) Force all imates to serve at least 80% of their sentence before being considered for release, or b) Have the judiciary stipulate, on a case by case basis, the minimum length of imprisonment.
Additionally, as is the case now, any early release would be dependent on the inmate's conduct.
As for the "discount" for a guilty plea - well yes, I do think there should be a discount for the offender who decides to save the court's time - but it shouldn't be as big as that offered to the offender who chose to show the police the same consideration as well. So in other words I would have the "guilty plea discount" proportional to how early in matters the offender coughed...
Hey - maybe I should run for some sort of office?
Martin.
I can't find much there to disagree with, Martin.
ReplyDeleteYes, we need to build more prisons. That is quite obvious, but the government seems to completely discount that idea, maybe because it sees it as admitting defeat. It would also provide work for all the Polish builders that have been laid off in the credit crunch.
The current early release scheme REALLY gets my goat (whatever that means). Yes, prisoners should be encouraged to behave, but I would rather see DISincentives to misbehave. Perharps there's some merit in the Yank's "three to five years" type sentencing?
Discounts for a quilty plea are definitely a good thing IF they save time and money for the police & CPS, and trauma and inconvenience for witness and victims. However to do this the discount should only be given for "It's a fair cop, I done it alright govern'r" type admissions, not after a long drawn out investigation and trial (when they are by that point completely bang-to-rights of course).
I have often raised similar points on Bystander's blog, only to be shouted down as a right-wing fascist or clueless oik.
I think any admission that saves the court's time is valuable - but as we both say, any serious benefit ought to come from an admission at interview in the police station really...
ReplyDeleteThe trouble at the moment is that system is so laughable... Yes, there should be discounts for good behaviour inside (and I have volunteered inside a prison, so I know that not *all* inmates are hardened crims), but this automatic "only expected to serve half the sentence anyway" thing should be booted into the long grass...
As for Bystander's blog, I don't usually have a problem with either him or the people who frequent it, but I suppose we all fall foul every now and then...
Martin