A 25-year sentence isn’t a life sentence

KOERT Meyer criticises advocates for the death penalty but, unlike them, he does not offer a solution to violent crime. May I offer one?

Our judiciary is allowed to sentence offenders to life imprisonment, which means 25 years and they get out to carry on with their lives.

I suggest our judges increase the alternative sentence to 280 years, 340 years, 550 years, and so on. Should they know they qualify for parole only after serving a quarter of their sentences, (in effect life), violent crime would disappear. At present, a life sentence means you’re free during your lifetime – hardly a deterrent.

We should encourage judges to be harder on violent criminals. If they know they will die in jail, they will think hard before they act violently.