Bag's Rants

I've always found sentencing confusing.

One area which I have always found strange is where you get a third off for pleading guilty. In some cases the evidence is so overwhelming that pleading guilty has been a way to reduce your punishment. On the other hand innocent people pleading not guilty end up in longer than regular criminals. Seems strange to me.

Now there of this case with the child rapist getting a reduction in sentence because he plead guilty. The sentencing was in line with the rules laid down before the judge and as defined by our government and it is unlikely our guy would get out then anyway. Due to the fact the minimum possible sentence came out at five years, which appears way too lenient, the public is up in arms. Seeing the possibility of gaining a few brownie points, our great leaders, you know, the ones that set the policy that allows this, are making capital from it.

Now to be perfectly honest this sentence is too lenient. Way to lenient. This guy should never see the outside of a prison again. It's not the judges fault though. Blame our namby pamby government. You know, the ones that are blaming the judge. Who also seems to be known as a tough sentencing judge. Go figure!

Now the reason these sentence reductions are there is so that we can save time and money in prosecutions. As a bonus it can save victims in cases of rape from having to relive their attacks. As a reward they get time off their sentence. Now if this 'loophole' is removed then there is no point anyone pleading guilty. Therefore be prepared for more expense, longer court cases and real criminals getting off on technicalities. Imagine if this guy had plead Not Guilty and got off because a copper had not filled in form 2567F correctly. He would now be free. Not all cases are black and white to a jury.

So yet again a knee jerk reaction that will do more harm than good all for a few plus points of publicity on a guy who will probably never be free again. Perhaps they should look at sentencing in total so that even after pleading guilty his minimum sentence was 25 years, after a third reduction. That's more like it.

posted by Bag @ 9:10 pm