Criminal Sentancing

[bjj hero]

The whole system is a lottery. Look at Steven Gerard getting found not guilty for assault when he hit the guy. He claimed self defence, apparently being elbowed in the head by someone is offensive enough to make someone else punch you in self defence. He was tried by "his peers", in Liverpool they think hes God, the victim got death threats, Gerrard got cleared. So much for justice.

Scousers eh? Fucking savages.

In an ideal world judges would be wise beyond their years with tonnes of life experience. If this was the case there would be no need for minimum/maximum sentences. Even with the current guidelines sentencing varies wildly. In my area the two magistrates courts are Newcastle and Stoke. Stoke sees far more traffic so they tend to be more "hardened" and not as easily shocked so they sentence lighter, they have seen more of life.

Equally statistics show that in England as an ethnic minority you will get a 50% longer prison sentence than a white Brit for the same crime.

Most judges live in ivory towers away from the real world, having no idea. There are some good judges and some bad judges, its the bad that make sentencing guidelines neccessary.

 

[EMFCRACKSHOT]

I agree with minimal sentencing guidelines but not maximum. This way the judge has discretion over whether or not to pass a longer than usual sentence depending on the circumstances of the crime.

 

[ygetoff]

It really depends. For many crimes, what we already do (In the United States at least) works just fine, but some things need some major tweaking.

The only issue I feel like going into right now are those heinous crimes that you don't come back from. What I'm referring to are crimes that are committed only by people so far gone mentally that no amount of "institutionalized correction" can make them sane enough for a normal life among normal people.

A perfect example of this is the good 'ol repeat sex offender: A guy rapes someone, gets caught, goes to prison, gets out X years later, and then he does it all again. You can't swing someone back to sanity from that. They're never going to stop unless you lock them up for good.

I'd normally have no problem with this, but there's a pretty damn big one that I've become enlightened to over the years: it costs a lot of money to keep a guy alive in prison for the rest of his life. Taxpayers are effectively paying out of their own pockets to sustain mentally ill convicts who are never going to improve, are never going to set foot outside of prison again, and are never going to contribute to society in any even remotely positive way.

My personal stance on this matter:

If you're convicted of a sexual crime once, you should be locked up for so god damned long that when you get out, the world won't even be the same one as it was when you went in. If you're convicted a second time, I'd like to go with the death penalty, but then all the bleeding hearts would lynch me for being inhumane. Instead, pump the guy full of cheap alcohol, leave him in the desert with no supplies and no civilization for miles in any direction, and let him kill himself by trying to bone a cactus.

I know it's extreme, but "prison for life" doesn't make any sense to me. There's no reason that innocent people should have to pay to keep convicts alive, especially if they're never getting out again.

Executions are also pretty expensive, not counting keeping the convict on death row.

There should be min/max sentences, just as a bulwark against corruption. A racist judge shouldn't be able to put someone in jail for years because of a minor crime.

 

[ShadowKatt]

Yeah, I'm for the death penalty on just about anything. DUI/DWI, death penalty. Rape, death penalty. Drug possession, death penalty. Murder, death penalty. Embezzelment,death penalty. And none of this pansy ass lethal injection stuff after sitting on death row for 20 years, take them out back the courthouse and shoot them, right after the trial.

No more laywers trying to bend the laws into loopholes.
No more multimillion dollar attourneys paying off entire jury panels.

Make it fast, present the evidence, rule on the bare facts right in front of you, if he's innocent, let him go, if he's guilty, know what? Don't even take him out back. Just have he baliff shoot him right there.

THERE'S a solution to the justice system in the US.

 

[iron codpiece]

Yeah, I'm for the death penalty on just about anything. DUI/DWI, death penalty. Rape, death penalty. Drug possession, death penalty. Murder, death penalty. Embezzelment,death penalty. And none of this pansy ass lethal injection stuff after sitting on death row for 20 years, take them out back the courthouse and shoot them, right after the trial.

No more laywers trying to bend the laws into loopholes.
No more multimillion dollar attourneys paying off entire jury panels.

Make it fast, present the evidence, rule on the bare facts right in front of you, if he's innocent, let him go, if he's guilty, know what? Don't even take him out back. Just have he baliff shoot him right there.

THERE'S a solution to the justice system in the US.

By your standards I'd be dead. I was accused ot rape and not only exonerated but she was given a false reporting charge as security camera footage in the nearby mall showed her walking around the whole night this 'rape' happened then she broke down and admitted she made it up to get back at me for divorcing her (though I guess she would've been dead before than for domestic abuse so maybe it's a moot point)

 

[ShadowKatt]

Yeah, I'm for the death penalty on just about anything. DUI/DWI, death penalty. Rape, death penalty. Drug possession, death penalty. Murder, death penalty. Embezzelment,death penalty. And none of this pansy ass lethal injection stuff after sitting on death row for 20 years, take them out back the courthouse and shoot them, right after the trial.

No more laywers trying to bend the laws into loopholes.
No more multimillion dollar attourneys paying off entire jury panels.

Make it fast, present the evidence, rule on the bare facts right in front of you, if he's innocent, let him go, if he's guilty, know what? Don't even take him out back. Just have he baliff shoot him right there.

THERE'S a solution to the justice system in the US.

By your standards I'd be dead. I was accused ot rape and not only exonerated but she was given a false reporting charge as security camera footage in the nearby mall showed her walking around the whole night this 'rape' happened then she broke down and admitted she made it up to get back at me for divorcing her (though I guess she would've been dead before than for domestic abuse so maybe it's a moot point)

And I'll thank you for proving my point. Let me explain. The legal system we all live in now is one that we can bend to our will and use it as a weapon against each other. This is one such occurance. Just about any woman can call in to the police station after, I don't know, they broke up with their boyfriend because he cheated on her or just had a burder down at the fast food joint with another girl, claim rape and watch the police descend upon him like feds on a drug house. Funny stuff and vengeful retribution, everything she wants, and while your case was exonerated, most aren't. Most don't get to the point yours did. If he can't prove HIS case, they lock him up and throw away the key. Yes, your case, yeah, you'd be dead, but so would she after she was found guilty of sending another person to their death. Death makes people toe the line. Fear keeps them in line. People would be a lot less eager to book a lawyer and try to steal another persons life, liberty, and money if they knew their own life would be on the line.

I know it's harsh, I know it's not perfect, and I know it resembles something out of Orwells 1984, but the bottom line is: It works.

Then again, if that's not good enough, think of the population control. And by the way, I'd be dead too. I spent over a year and a half fighting a Maliicious Destruction of Property charge along with 3 other people, and even though they had prints, tracks, and stolen items from the three others and nothing on me, I came within a hairs breadth away from prison time.

 

[Duskwaith]

They should rack up the years with each felony.

so if your in for 5 accounts of GBH=5rs+5+5+5+5=25years instead of just smacking him with 15.