Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Use of force? OK for criminals.
The Times reports here on new sentencing guidelines under which non custodial sentences will be considered appropriate for "young" offenders where a threat or "use of minimal force" is used.
One of the functions of criminal justice, must be deterrent; it is not the function of criminal justice to merely put offenders through a process, for the sake of saying "We're doing something about it". How does this deter the offender from using force? I say it will encourage them, after all if the threat doesn't work, you'll get no increased sentence for a bit of force. Just show the victim you mean business, that should be sufficient. From a bit of force, what next? A lot of force?
I can understand a clear dividing line between a threat and use of force, but to blur it as these new guidelines do is madness.
Of course in the modern socialist mindset, it isn't the fault of the criminal, it is the fault of society or their parents, or the white fish authority, in fact anyone other than the person who commits the crime. When you look at it like that it all makes sense. If they can't help it, no amount of deterrence will work. So what if they use a bit of force, no real damage has been done has it? A spell in prison well that just isn't nice and the victim only has minor injuries.
Mark my words, if we carry on down this path, criminals will be allowed to carry weapons (including guns) as "tools of the trade". "They can't help it, it's what they do" will be the whinging refrain. Victims should co-operate to ensure they don't get hurt, if the criminal can point a gun at an unarmed victim, well there's much more chance of co-operation supposedly (although not in my view) saving the victim from further injury and ensuring the criminal doesn't commit a greater offence.
Punishment for crimes of violence should include a coporal element,which should be adminstered as soon as practical after conviction, so the criminal will associate it with the crime. It is right that the criminal be made to feel the same sort of pain and humiliation they inflict on their victims.
Robbery with violence? Birching followed by jail.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
One of the functions of criminal justice, must be deterrent; it is not the function of criminal justice to merely put offenders through a process, for the sake of saying "We're doing something about it". How does this deter the offender from using force? I say it will encourage them, after all if the threat doesn't work, you'll get no increased sentence for a bit of force. Just show the victim you mean business, that should be sufficient. From a bit of force, what next? A lot of force?
I can understand a clear dividing line between a threat and use of force, but to blur it as these new guidelines do is madness.
Of course in the modern socialist mindset, it isn't the fault of the criminal, it is the fault of society or their parents, or the white fish authority, in fact anyone other than the person who commits the crime. When you look at it like that it all makes sense. If they can't help it, no amount of deterrence will work. So what if they use a bit of force, no real damage has been done has it? A spell in prison well that just isn't nice and the victim only has minor injuries.
Mark my words, if we carry on down this path, criminals will be allowed to carry weapons (including guns) as "tools of the trade". "They can't help it, it's what they do" will be the whinging refrain. Victims should co-operate to ensure they don't get hurt, if the criminal can point a gun at an unarmed victim, well there's much more chance of co-operation supposedly (although not in my view) saving the victim from further injury and ensuring the criminal doesn't commit a greater offence.
Punishment for crimes of violence should include a coporal element,which should be adminstered as soon as practical after conviction, so the criminal will associate it with the crime. It is right that the criminal be made to feel the same sort of pain and humiliation they inflict on their victims.
Robbery with violence? Birching followed by jail.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
