Crooks’ hardship no excuse
AVERY silly, naïve group of people called the Sentencing Council have come up with the lunatic idea that judges should dole out much softer sentences to people from deprived or difficult backgrounds.
The council clearly believes that all killers, rapists, robbers and paedophiles are just decent, misunderstood people who cannot be held responsible for their crimes because they didn’t get to grow up in a big house or go to a private school and so should be excused for all wrongdoing.
The council sets out a list of mitigating factors in sentencing for magistrates and judges – which include poverty, low educational attainment, experience of discrimination, negative experiences with authority and insecure housing.
What, so if a criminal grew up in a not very nice house then he should be spared jail for robbing someone’s else’s? If someone got beaten up by thugs then it’s perfectly understandable that they go out and beat up other people? If someone gets abused as a child then it’s excusable for them to abuse other children?
No, no, no to all of the above. Because what this Sentencing Council is saying is that people from deprived backgrounds shouldn’t be expected to take responsibility for their crimes. I’m sorry but that’s patronising tosh.
I grew up on a council estate – as did millions of others – in the direst of circumstances and we all know it’s wrong to steal, hurt people and break the law.
Who are the muppets on this council whose priorities are so skewed that they spend more time fretting about the fate and feelings of criminals rather than their victims – victims who may never recover from what’s happened to them at the hands of villains?
Yes, the most persistent offenders tend to be from deprived backgrounds but that cannot be an excuse for the horrors they perpetrate.
The whole point of our justice system is that it needs to be fair and equal. More importantly, it needs to protect the public from vicious, violent people who don’t give a damn who they hurt. It shouldn’t be letting them off with a slap on the wrist so they can go out and cause more pain and suffering. In fact, it’s persistent criminals from deprived backgrounds who need to be given harsh sentences, because many don’t see what they’ve done as being wrong. And they need to be made to understand why it is, with both punishment and rehabilitation.
These new guidelines also insult everyone from poorer backgrounds, the majority of whom do not commit crimes.
And on what planet is it right or just that someone from the middle classes should be given a much harsher sentence for the same crime than someone from a deprived background?
Because that was the worry when these guidelines were being drawn up – that better-off offenders from secure homes could be handed tougher penalties for the same offence.
The Sentencing Council needs to get its priorities right.The criminals aren’t the victims here – the innocent people they kill, rape, rob and abuse are.
Once you start “excusing” crooks, you give them the green light to go do whatever the hell they want and therein lies anarchy. And do we really want to live in a society where violent reprobates with no conscience, no compassion and no shame get preferential treatment over the decent law-abiding majority?