JUDGES AND MAGISTRATES JUST CAN'T WIN - AND 1984!
The Government the media and any number of interest
groups are urging courts to send less criminals to prison on the grounds that....
a) the prison
system is overcrowded and can't cope
b) prison is an inhumane degrading environment
c) prison is a academy for crime and
d) there are
better non-custodial alternatives available.
Except..........
despite Parliament introducing a 'two strikes and you're out' basis for
the sentencing of knife crime in that those convicted of a second knife-related
crime would face a prison sentence of at least six months such is proving not
to be the case.
Ministry of Justice figures show the proportion of
those being jailed for knife crime is falling with only 50% of the 4000
sentenced for two or more knife crimes being sent to jail.
Various public figures such as the Mayor of Bristol
("we need to take our city back"),
retired Detective Chief Superintendent Kevin Moore ("the courts take delight in ignoring the public's wishes")
and Patrick Green, CE of the Ben Kinsella anti-knife charity ("that someone caught carrying a deadly
weapon twice wouldn't face significant jail time is simply unacceptable")
are bewailing the fact that the courts are doing exactly what the Government
says, and reducing the number of criminals sent to jail.
Let me be clear, whilst I strongly dispute Kevin
Moore's assertion that the courts take delight in ignoring the public's wishes
I do agree totally with those at the Ben Kinsella charity that such a failure
of Parliament's expressed intent is unacceptable, but the two expressions of
the Government's desires are not
compatible.
The courts can't send to prison all those who it should,
and at the same time stop sending criminals to jail.
George Orwell in his seminal novel 1984 introduced
the concept of 'double think' - the ability to hold two totally conflicting
ideas at the same time, and believe them both to be true.
Such I'm afraid is the case here, and criticising
the courts for doing exactly what they've been instructed to do, is not the way
forward.
In the belief that the people of these islands will not
change the habits of history and become more law-abiding (I might blog about
that more in the future) the only real solution is to build more prisons, and
for the tax-payer to cough up the money.
If society wants protecting from its criminals then
it must be prepared to pay for it, without complaint.
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