I see that Peter Doherty the singer (as a music lover that is not how I would describe him!) has been jailed for 14 weeks for breaching a probation order. After all the chances he has had I think he has got away very lightly.
Although this case is not in it's self at all important. It has however brought to light a very serious issue regarding how long a prison sentence should be.
In days gone by a 14 week sentence would mean 14 weeks, more or less.
However it seems to me that almost all criminals only do half of this. The public likes to think it is getting protected from the undesirable elements in society and who can blame them? As a result of this a judge may pass a sentence of 6 years on an armed robber in the full knowledge he will probably be out in 3 years. This then avoids an outcry from the public but is in effect letting the public down.
However an even greater injustice is taking place that most people do not realise. Because the government has failed to plan for the correct numbers, jails are now full, and Mr Brown and his gang has come up with a scheme to help with this. They have introduced the End of Custody License which is a cunning plan to get criminals back on the street and avoid them sleeping 6 to a cell.
Under this scheme Doherty may serve as little as a month. Is it worth the bother I ask myself. Why not do away with jails and let everyone do what they want. Well this seems to be the direction we are headed.
Mind you the real losers will be the British public. Because when Doherty is out he is going to start singing again.
Perhaps they may let me in jail to avoid that!
(If there was room)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment