Neil Smalley

From BBC News

"The average first-time non-professional and non-violent domestic burglar will no longer be sent to prison, following a ruling by the Lord Chief Justice.

Lord Woolf said the sentencing "starting point" of up to 18 months in prison no longer applied.

Courts should rather impose a community sentence, like probation, in the first instance, he said. "

[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

I won't bother buying anything then. I'll have people queuing up outside waiting to steal stuff from me. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

chiark

I did think that the timing was lousy. Burglaries are traditionally up by 40% at this time of year according to police. Our neighbours have been done over.

I bet they feel so good knowing that the ****s that did it, if caught, will be wandering around the community and really paying for their crime

Daft announcement.

Dave T-S

As a burglary victim, you can rest assured Woolf is not on my Christmas card list[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Has Woolf ever been burgled? I doubt it. Maybe if it happens to him and they trash the house for fun or smear excrement round the house like they do in many cases he might think differently.......[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Naturally in our case they were never apprehended. Plod reckoned it was kids after money for drugs. Oh, hang on, is this the same government that puts police priority on harrassing motorists, and is going soft on drugs[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

New Labia = bunch of ******* w@nkers. Merry Christmas Tony and your cronies[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

ChrisB

Just the like the scumbags who broke into our offices, wrecked every single locked internal door beyond repair, nicked some PCs and various other bits.

No one got caught for that

Or the to$$ers that enjoyed putting our office windows through every weekend.

We had more crime numbers that I've had hot dinners.

So we have polycarbonate replacement windows that won't shatter.

So they used to enjoy making them craze over.

Funny, no one got caught for that either...

Shark

Well put Dave.

David

Dave T-S

In any case, in 1999 there were 760,000 burglaries; currently around 15,000 come before the courts - nice detection, never mind clean up rate then.

Two further observations - one, there is a better (100%) clean up rate from catching a motorist, two, it costs a lot of money to keep people in prison, better to not bother then because in the case of burglaries the insurance industry can pay for it instead[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Unfortunately it is frequently the people at the lower end of the social/wealth scale (and I DON'T mean that rudely) or the elderly that get repeatedly burgled, and they are normally the ones that cannot afford/cannot get/do not bother with insurance so they have to pay themselves. Nice one Labour[img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

[Edited by Dave T-S - 12/20/2002 9:45:20 AM]

Popeye P1

And we normally pay out of our taxes for the low-life to steal our stuff too. Most of em are have the time to spare robbing ppl as they only have to queue up once a week for their Giro and they're family allowance for their ten kids!!!

Ok this country has prospered better since New Labour have got in, but look at the other end? Crime is rising, we're getting taxed to death, NHS is milked by Bogus claims, Speed Cameras are rife, Illegal Immigrants still swarm into our Country.


Can it get any better?

marty_t3

Whats next?? First time murderers avoiding prison?? Why don't they start punishing these people. There is no deterent in this country to put people off commiting crime. I think i might try it myself... it's gotta beat working for a living.

MarkO

<scoobynet>String them up!! Castrate them! Kill their families!</sn>

Tommy 2000

That's a bit harsh Mark ...just cut their thieving hands off!

chiark

You can see how the slightly-right-of-labour (who are slightly right or slightly left of centre depending on the day of the week) will come back into power with crap like this happening.

marty_t3

K.. thats it... i'm gonna become prime minister!!! (never really liked IT anyway)

My manifesto. (just for starters)

1) Build a huge **** off prison in the middle of nowhere (preferably an island). No TVs, radios, pool tables or any luxuries at all allowed. Criminals will live like bl00dy criminals.

2) Make punishments FAR more severe.... and impose a 3 strikes and you're out rule. Give then more of an incentive to not re-offend. Also make anti-social behavior a serious offence.

3) Move all Gatso camera's to outside school, kids parks, town centres, old folks homes etc. and, basically, give the ABD a major role in transport policy, after all, cars are the main form of transport in the UK.

4) Anyone running a badly over budget project (Dome/wembley etc) will be sacked for incompotence and not given another government position.

5) Seriously cut back on military spending to save a huge amount of cash. Only issue limited foreign aid (so not to pi55 off the neighbours too much)

6) Get rid of all stealth taxes and put a straight forward increase on income tax to compensate.

7) the terminally unemployed will be given jobs helping the elderly, cleaning the streets and helping out in the community in return for their dole money.

Go on... vote for me <<--- cheezy fake smile

Scot123

Yeah but if we did vote you in you'd just go and do the bloody opposite

[Edited by Scot123 - 12/20/2002 11:09:32 AM]

marty_t3

Don't politicians/government ask for some public opinion before they go making stupit decisions??

Popeye P1

I'd def vote for you Marty-T3. Prob is there's too many so called do-gooders in this country who seem to have the influencing power to screw up 'normal' peoples lives.

Consider this around 100 people a year are murdered by Prisoners on probation. Therefore by making prisons proper places and not letting them out, we'd save 100 innocent lives.

All those carjacking victims recently have been killed by Scum with huge amounts of offences. Yet our so-called jusatice system lets them out to carry on ruining innocent lives.

Quote jack straw:3 strikes and you're out. Did this happen?? Yet another government spin.

I am sick of death of do-gooding liberals who have ruined this country turning it into a 'nanny' state. People/Parentws should take responsiblity for their actions and stop blaming others

e.g. that guy who murdered those 2 girls pleaded insanity and went off to Rampton to be interrogated by pencil pushing shrinks. Apparently Bev Allott(the baby killer) is enjoying life to the full in there going to parties and socialising. Another disgrace!!!!!

pops- Vote me for P.M and you'll sleep easier.

marty_t3

Do I smell some opposition?? Looks like we'd have the same policies anyway

marty_t3

I dunno about you guys but my folks always brought me up thinking that if you commit a crime, you go to jail. It didn't exactly scar me for life or anything but it did put the fear of god into me everytime i saw a policeman and i'd been misbehaving.

As much as we may rant on about police harrasing motorists, this new ruling is hardly likely to give them much help when it comes to getting crime figures down.

If you look at the numbers....

If only 1 in 50 burglaries results in a prosecution and the thieving b*****d gets let off the first time he's caught that's another 50 burglaries he'll probably carry out before he goes to jail. He could burgle my house 100 times before they send him to jail!!!

Of course if i catch him doing it for the 99th time and give him a kicking i go down for 6 months for GBH then get hit with a lawsuit for damages!?!?!?!?!

Neil Smalley

Someone summed it up on the BBC talkback website
"So if I'm a bit strapped for cash, I can burgle a house with absolutely zero chance of being imprisoned. And keep on doing so until the first time I'm caught. Sweet. Even I'm tempted to give up my day job. "

Popeye P1

That Lord Wolf needs a good kick up the backside. The Criminal Fraternity must be rubbing their hands with glee.

Chances of getting caught are slim and if you do get caught you'll be made to wash some Grafitti off a Bridge. Lovely jubbly.

Also if these idiots actually made prison a deterrent in the 1st place rather than a Holiday Camp, then maybe people would think twice about committing a crime.

Lord Wolf= out of touch severly.

Molds

Just surfed along to the BBC to click the Vote button for kill the ***** f**king pond scum sonofa*&(&, oh err I mean Yes - Send 'em to jail. Getting Page not found right now but I will stay up all night trying. At least feel better for a few milliseconds...

CharlieWhiskey

IMHO they should all avoid prison...

Shoot the b4st4rds! [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Corner!

22BUK

In some States in the U.S. you are in fact allowed to shoot burglars. The bleeding heart liberals think this is appalling but IMHO I think we should do the same here in the U.K.

Katana

We're allowed to even defend ourselves here? I almost got arrested a few months back for allegedly hurting the guy that broke my fence (all the front panels).

unclebuck

The really disturbing thing is that 80% of people who voted in that BBC poll voted NO to fist time prison sentances

Crazy...

Andy W

Bring back corporal punishment,
"prison is no longer a deterent"

50 feckin lashes might!

Car thieves loose one ******** per offence then on to the fingers and toes!!!!!!

Andy W

On a slightly more realistic note what about some sort of hard labour sort of thing? Make the buggers break rocks for 12 hours a day.
They wouldn't even need to be in jail, just as long as after their days work they'd be too tired to climb in someones window!

A

Katana

Uncle Buck, looks like you and I both have reading comprehension problems. It actually said should they avoid going to prison not should they go to prison. I actually voted Yes like you did and got agry because I thought the majority were idiots. Looks like we're the fool here..

barge

I agree with MarkO

There was a problem kid at my kid brothers school, kept picking on my brother, so I gave him a good kicking, so this little person put our house windows thru, so I went & spoke nicely to his dad, who paid for our windows & keep the little chap under control near our house & my brother, a bit of punishment does work.

I know I'm a hardened criminal driving a subrau & sometimes speeding but its about time some of the judges & MPs were burgled, mugged, raped & had drug dealers pestering their families, they would soon toughen up the laws then.

Little Miss WRX

Yep, but only so they can do the opposite of what the public want........they have to be sure you know!!!!

marty_t3

I just found out this weekend that a friend's 13 year old son was caught breaking into a car on Friday night. His mom, IMO, is a pi55 poor mother and does nothing about his behaviour. He's been given yet another warning by police but i doubt it'll make the slightest bit of difference.

Worst thing is, he's a smart and polite kid but he just hasn't been taught the "rules". Not punishing him isn't going to help him. I think the same can be said for first time burglars.