Monday 5 October 2009

Sentencing



It’s an old chestnut, but there have been a few sentences of offenders recently that have made me stop and think, what the hell is going on. I am sure I am not the only one who has been thinking about sentencing and the fact that crime and consequences seem to be out of kilter.

For too many years we have taken a softly, softly approach with drugs, theft, anti social behaviour etc. and a culture of toleration and understanding and trying to ‘help’ the poor offenders that perpetrate these crimes. In particular I would single out the Youth Justice Service and their weak and watery staff and policies that do nothing other than put barriers in the way of addressing poor behaviour and the concept that such behaviour must have negative consequences.

I fully understand that feral yobs and the like are the product of their upbringing and this is often the real cause of the problem. YJS workers telling me that it is pointless forcing parents to attend Parenting classes and that they must be persuaded to does nothing to give me any confidence that they are achieving anything other than pandering to the wishes of those responsible for criminality.

We are failing to address the poor behaviour of too many young offenders who are escalating into more and more serious offending. I had started to seriously wonder how our prisons were going to cope with the dozens and dozens of out of control young men and women who, after years of lackadaisical and ineffectual supervision, punishment and rehabilitation, eventually commit such serious offences that they are sentenced to life with recommendations of minimum sentences of twenty or more years. I thought we must start building more prisons now or there won’t be any room.

Now I see how our masters are going to deal with this problem. These young men and women that should be behind bars for a very long time are no longer being given long sentences. Even the judges have given up or been directed to stop sending serious offenders to prison for long periods. Here are a few examples.

July 2009, Colt Wesley Welch was in a vehicle that police tried to stop. He fired a sawn off shotgun at the officers. He later ran off from the vehicle and threatened other officers with the gun. He was eventually arrested. The gun was found to have been stolen from a burglary and later sawn off. We are supposed to be getting tough on gun crime. The sentencing guidelines are supposed to be 5 years just for unlawful possession of a firearm. What did Welch get for not just possession but firing the weapon at unarmed officers? Five years!


The yobs with numerous convictions for violence, breach of ASBO etc. who beat a man to death with a hammer because he dared challenge them regarding their behaviour. The hammer wielder got life with a recommendation of minimum sentence of 9 years 2 months. The rest of the gang got between 12 and 28 months.

I do understand that in the longer term Government policy and strategy must change and do more to remove this cycle of behaviour and address some of the social ills and irresponsibility their policies have partly brought about. In the meantime, sentencing must reflect public distaste and provide a proper deterrent to this criminality.

17 comments:

  1. Another challenging post from LTH, who generously assumes that all who read this will know that they must halve the prison sentences cited, because that is precisely what the `system` will do, making it a mere 30 months in stir, for taking a potshot at police with a devastating weapon such as a sawn off shotgun. I have always wondered if this `justice malarky` is part of a covert plan to finally concede to issuing police officers with firearms for their own protection, for that is all they bloody well have to look forward to.

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  2. It’s not just the sentences against those who shoot at, threaten or attack the Police that are shameful and utterly degusting, but we now seem to have a sentencing policy that actively aids the offenders and punishes the victims of the crimes committed against them.
    I was a fervent anti capital punishment advocate for many years but it seems now that murderers are so leniently punished and victim’s families seemingly punished instead by lenient sentencing I now feel that murderers who have exhausted all DNA evidence, and all other appeals should be executed.
    Execution should be a mandatory sentence for all murder of Police Officers so that Officers should have the protection of the law when under taking their duties on our behalf.

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  3. Your fair country does not sound all that different than ours (one in north America).

    Alas...too bad the judges can't get their heads out of their arses

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  4. Barry, the only trouble with the internet is that we cannot police comments from mad cretins such as yourself who have nothing to say that is of any relevance to anyone in the real world. Please fuck off and do not darken this blog again.

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  5. One result of this 'Yuman Rites' for murderers and 'naff all' for the victims will be that people will start taking the law into their own hands. Look at the glee & delight of people who saw the video of those two Welsh yobs getting their comeuppance from the Drag Queens. The police make the problems worse by protecting scum - ref 14 min police response to one piece of scum who felt 'harassed' because journalists wanted to get his picture as he was reckoned to be the ringleader of the gang who tormented that lady who burned herself & her daughter - and exactly how many times did the police fail to answer her calls?

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  6. "Your fair country does not sound all that different than ours (one in north America)."

    You don't mean Canada by any chance, do you? Because I was about to say, five years for unlawful possession of a firearm sounds like the bee's knees compared to here.

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  7. Need more prison places?

    1) Deport all immigrants upon conviction. Don't waste our money jailing them here to protect Elbonians, just send them back to Elbonia and let the Elbonians deal with them.

    2) Give smackheads heroin instead of methadone. It'll cost the same, will reduce burgling and shoplifting, and it'll piss off the Taliban no end.

    3) Tear up the Human Rights Act and just start stacking the buggers up five high in the cells. Sod "rehabilitation", once you're on your second stretch, you're unfixable.

    None of these are rocket science; they just require a government with the nuts to get on with it.

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  8. Your post
    September 2009, Adrian Lee Taylor’s address is subject of a drugs search warrant. He threatens police with a gun. He is subsequently charged and convicted with possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear and possession of cocaine with intent to supply. His sentence? Four years!

    The "drugs search warrant" you speak of never existed i can put you in touch with my barrister to confirm if you want or you can continue to be ignorant to the truth and continue to publish lies. The two "police officers" you write about did not follow standard basic procedure they did not identify themselves as officers of the law and they tried to force entry before i produced the PELLET GUN. I think it would be better for everybody if checked the facts before publishing

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  9. COLT WELCH DID NOT GET 5 YEARS. HE GOT AN I.P.P SENTENCE WHICH MEANS HE GOT 99 YEARS WITH A 5 YEAR MINIMUM TERM. AFTER SERVING 5 YEARS STRIGHT HE CAN BEGIN THE PAROLE PROCESS. REALISTICALLY HE WILL SERVE AT LEAST 9 YEARS PLUS IN PRISON..... GET YOUR FUCKING FACTS RIGHT BEFORE WRITING SHIT ON THE INTERNET

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  10. Does anyone know if colt Welch is still in prison? He was a good friend of mine at school! Was shocked to hear this news

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