Hard talk = soft justice

So the rioters in London and elsewhere will, according to David Cameron, ‘face the full weight of the law’! That must set the 11 and 12 year olds quaking in their designer trainers, like the 12 year old given a nine month referral order for burglary who told photographers outside court to ‘#+*#*@ off’, although with a mother who told reporters to ‘watch your #@**’#ing face’ what can one expect?
And what of the 11 year old girl, who travelled 16 miles specifically to join in the mayhem, which she said ‘made her happy’, and where did her parents think she was while she was engaged in hurling stones at shop windows? Another 9 month referral order for a girl who ‘wasn’t bothered’ because she ‘never thought we were going to get caught’.

Isn’t it high time to remove the restrictions on naming, and splashing the photographs, of these lawless creatures, and their dysfunctional parents, all over the newspapers so we, their teachers and prospective employers can all see them for what they are?

Might some good come out of all this, or will it just become another exercise in hand-wringing, ‘community initiatives’ and the pouring of further money down the plug-hole of ‘urban regeneration’?
Mark Reckless MP of the Commons Home Affairs committee thinks that parliament, not that ultimate soft-touch quango the Sentencing Council, should set sentences and the MP Rodger Gale called for an immediate increase in magistrates sentencing powers, but I should live so long!

Of course, and predictably, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice is reported to have said ‘If you are old enough to commit these crimes you are old enough to face the punishment’. This is the same Ministry of (in)Justice who restricts ‘punishment’ of feral children to a referral order, meaning they have to talk to a probation officer!!!!!!!
Well tell that to Judge Tim Devas who reminded all those dismayed at soft sentences;

‘If there are any criticisms of sentences handed down by the courts, if you want anyone to blame, then go and speak to the government. Do not blame the judges or the magistrates who do their jobs professionally and abide by the guidelines set down’.

All David Cameron’s hard talk, and the Ministry of Justice’s idea of punishment, is just so much propaganda while ever the courts are shackled by, and forced to adhere to, sentencing guidelines which neither reflect the public’s concept of justice or attempt to punish the offender.