Posted on 11/28/2005 6:19:20 PM PST by 1066AD
The law-abiding suffer, the mugger walks free (Filed: 29/11/2005)
Less than four years ago, the then Lord Chief Justice ruled that all muggers should be sent to prison for at least 18 months. Lord Woolf's sentencing guidelines, hailed at the time as a "tough new crackdown" on street crime, were to apply even to young, unarmed, first-time offenders.
Lord Woolf ruled that, for people who stole mobile telephones or small sums of money in public places, "custodial sentences will be the only option available to the courts, unless there are very exceptional circumstances".
At the time - January, 2002 - the ruling caused quite a public stir. Law-abiding citizens felt that at last the courts were starting to acknowledge just how terrifying a crime mugging is, and that from now on the guilty would be treated accordingly.
But hardly anything changed. Few magistrates or judges paid the slightest attention to the new guidelines - and young muggers went on receiving community service orders, just as before.
Yesterday, Lord Woolf's successor, Lord Phillips, back-tracked further. He recommended that, as a matter of course, muggers aged 17 or under should escape detention if they used only "minimal force" while committing their street robberies. Meanwhile, the minimum sentence for adult offenders should be 12 months' custody, rather than Lord Woolf's 18.
In support of his new guidelines, Lord Phillips cited the example of "a 15-year-old standing on the fringe of a group of lads who simply said to another boy, who was using a phone, 'Hand that over or we'll thump you' ". In such a case, he said, detention would not be necessary - and most sensible people would agree with him.
But what about the 15-year-old who actually issues the threat of violence, rather than "standing on the fringe of a group"? Under Lord Phillips's guidelines, even that young thug will escape custody, as long as he uses only "minimal force".
We are not deaf to the arguments against custody for juvenile criminals. We know that many young offenders' institutions are no more than training schools for a life of crime. But that is an argument for better detention regimes. It would be all very well to impose non-custodial sentences, if only the alternatives to imprisonment were a real punishment.
The trouble is that most young muggers regard community service orders as a bit of a laugh. They suspect, as we all do, that the desire of the authorities to relieve prison overcrowding is much stronger than their will to punish crime.
The only way to stop the horror of street muggings is to make offenders genuinely frightened of the consequences of their actions. Lord Phillips's new guidelines will make them less afraid than ever.
The downward slide continues.
What a wuss. What ever happened to REAL MEN?
I am always amazed at how much more civilized the brits are than us yankee brutes.
They're getting close to a Clockwork Orange scenario.
Love it, accept it, and live it and content filled living has a chance to thrive for the innocent of crime.
Yup, or even the US for lesser crimes LOL.
Maybe send them to the moon or Mars, one way tickets.
Right on!
When do you start issuing CCW's to the (the few left, that is) law abiding citizens?
In a nation that obliged government tyranny by giving up their right to keep and bear arms, you have to ask?
There. Fixed it.
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