For what I would call murder !!!!
You might call it murder, but in the absence of any proved intention to kill, you would be wrong.
We live in an age when unimaginable numbers are bandied about with little consideration, so it is easy to invent a mental scale of penalties for locking up miscreants. As we all know, the thought of a long prison sentence has little deterrent value if there is a good probability of getting away with bad behaviour. The only valid reason to lock away someone for many years is to prevent them doing something else - meanwhile they associate with other baddies and have little inclination to reform.
Effective rehab might work better.
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For what I would call murder !!!!
You might call it murder, but in the absence of any proved intention to kill, you would be wrong.
We live in an age when unimaginable numbers are bandied about with little consideration, so it is easy to invent a mental scale of penalties for locking up miscreants. As we all know, the thought of a long prison sentence has little deterrent value if there is a good probability of getting away with bad behaviour. The only valid reason to lock away someone for many years is to prevent them doing something else - meanwhile they associate with other baddies and have little inclination to reform.
Effective rehab might work better.
But is rehab effective? Judging by the number of repeat offenders, the evidence is that rehab isn't very effective.
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You have only to look at the walking disaster that is Katie Price. She seems to have her own set of CPS officials who constantly look after her welfare to keep her out of clink. The system is totally unfair to some, those with the best sob story and ""personal" problems get away with "murder"
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"Our research also covers drivers who were banned for driving during a disqualification. There were over 31,611 of them over the four-year period – that’s an average of 620 a month, or 21 every day."
www.moneyshake.com/shaking-news/miscellaneous/uk-d...s
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You have only to look at the walking disaster that is Katie Price. She seems to have her own set of CPS officials who constantly look after her welfare to keep her out of clink. The system is totally unfair to some, those with the best sob story and ""personal" problems get away with "murder"
Now getting married in Las Vegas, How on earth did she get an american Visa, she needed one with her previous drug convictions..
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But is rehab effective? Judging by the number of repeat offenders, the evidence is that rehab isn't very effective.
Is there any rehab at all?
Judging by the fact she was caught again this woman has a serious drink/drugs problem. Or maybe some other serious problem for which she thinks drink and drugs are the answer.
Is a period in an overcrowded gaol, locked up for most of the day, going to solve anything?
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But is rehab effective? Judging by the number of repeat offenders, the evidence is that rehab isn't very effective.
Is there any rehab at all?
Judging by the fact she was caught again this woman has a serious drink/drugs problem. Or maybe some other serious problem for which she thinks drink and drugs are the answer.
Is a period in an overcrowded gaol, locked up for most of the day, going to solve anything?
People commiting such serious crimes need some kind of punishment. There may well be some mitigation, but in the end, people almost always choose to drink to excess and/or partake in illegal drugs, often naively believing that things won't get out of hand, desite all the evidence to the contrary over several decades.
Perhaps having to wear a tag and be subject to a curfew/ban on going to certain places, alongside forced but proper rehab (including addressing issues, as you say, the lead to the drink/drug taking in the first place) and doing extensive community works and all at their expense (this may be paid back after they are rehabilitated if no funds are available or it takes more than they need to live on).
They and others partaking in such activities need to be made aware that it can have some very serious consequences, otherwise it won't encourage people to stop or not take them up in the first place. Essenitally a 'carrot and stick approach', rather than just one or t'other.
A recent local case came to mind recently where two people were killed by a careless/reckless driver who has apparently since been charged with that offence but with the drink/drugs use added to it.
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But is rehab effective? Judging by the number of repeat offenders, the evidence is that rehab isn't very effective.
Is there any rehab at all?
Judging by the fact she was caught again this woman has a serious drink/drugs problem. Or maybe some other serious problem for which she thinks drink and drugs are the answer.
Is a period in an overcrowded gaol, locked up for most of the day, going to solve anything?
Yes - she will not be able to re-offend while inside.
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Is a period in an overcrowded gaol, locked up for most of the day, going to solve anything?
Other than keeping the rest of us safe from some drug using driver while she's incarcerated, no!
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Effective rehab might work better.
Never mind rehab, what about punishment?
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Effective rehab might work better.
Never mind rehab, what about punishment?
'Punishment' includes some hope of correcting a miscreant's behaviour. I suspect that a more correct description might be Retribution - by 'society' who want to exact a penalty as some form of revenge.
As I said before, the main achievement of a long sentence is that it removes offenders from circulation. Unfortunately it is very expensive and paid for by those outside, and also calls for a dedicated and incorruptible army of prison officers.
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Effective rehab might work better.
Never mind rehab, what about punishment?
'Punishment' includes some hope of correcting a miscreant's behaviour. I suspect that a more correct description might be Retribution - by 'society' who want to exact a penalty as some form of revenge.
As I said before, the main achievement of a long sentence is that it removes offenders from circulation. Unfortunately it is very expensive and paid for by those outside, and also calls for a dedicated and incorruptible army of prison officers.
Perhaps part of the punishment should be that the guilty pay something towards the cost of their incarceration, rehab and restitution towards the victim - not sure if the so-called 'victim surcharge' ever goes to victims or if it does, is frankly anywhere near enough.
For too many criminals (of all crimes), the justice system, whether prison or non-custodial sentences plus 'some kind' (often just playing at it, a box-ticking exercise to pander to the media, special interest groups and politicians) of rehab is just a 'revolving door' to further criminality down the line.
A lot of it needs to be the perpetrator taking personal responsibility for what they've done, to change their life around and to make things right, even if that means their life afterwards being hard for a long time. I think that part of the sentencing should be as a deterrant to others, but will only be so if the system actually catches them.
RTAs caused by drink, drugs and/or poor driving is obviously much easier to get those responsible than most other crimes.
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For too many criminals (of all crimes), the justice system, whether prison or non-custodial sentences plus 'some kind' (often just playing at it, a box-ticking exercise to pander to the media, special interest groups and politicians) of rehab is just a 'revolving door' to further criminality down the line.
There's much more to the revolving door then 'easy' sentences.
My job is to provide advice to people who need to claim Universal Credit which, of course, includes people leaving jail.
Now if you've been on a reasonable stretch then pre-release stuff will help you sort out benefits. On the other hand there are folks who, by the time they get to court, have served the weeks their minor thieving to feed a habit justifies. They tend to be turfed out of court in what they stand up in.
If you're on the park bench you've slept on after leaving the court you're not going to be claiming benefits on line; fall back to claim by phone.
You then get Mr Obstructive at the DWP who cavils over you needing a phone claim at all and won't accept your claim without details of the bank account you've not got.
As the guy said to me 'no wonder there's a revolving door'.
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For too many criminals (of all crimes), the justice system, whether prison or non-custodial sentences plus 'some kind' (often just playing at it, a box-ticking exercise to pander to the media, special interest groups and politicians) of rehab is just a 'revolving door' to further criminality down the line.
There's much more to the revolving door then 'easy' sentences.
My job is to provide advice to people who need to claim Universal Credit which, of course, includes people leaving jail.
Now if you've been on a reasonable stretch then pre-release stuff will help you sort out benefits. On the other hand there are folks who, by the time they get to court, have served the weeks their minor thieving to feed a habit justifies. They tend to be turfed out of court in what they stand up in.
If you're on the park bench you've slept on after leaving the court you're not going to be claiming benefits on line; fall back to claim by phone.
You then get Mr Obstructive at the DWP who cavils over you needing a phone claim at all and won't accept your claim without details of the bank account you've not got.
As the guy said to me 'no wonder there's a revolving door'.
Don't forget that crime isn't soley committed by the homeless.
Some people may get that way via a downward spiral, but it often starts small-scale, whereby the system enables them by either letting them get away scot-free (due to a loack of Police action, not because of money BTW) or proverbial slaps on the wrist (essentially the same end result) - often seen by the criminals as 'badges of honour' (especially the young), who then migrate to more serious and destrcutive (to both themselves and their victims/society) criminality.
Obviously in this case, the perpetrator wasn't some low-life on the streets but a reasonably well-off woman driving a Mercedes. The problem as I see it is that too many people appear to forgo their personal responsibility to be a good citizen because some personal issue affects them.
Perhaps it says as about such people's own upbringing and family/friends/colleagues (who perhaps should've spotted the signs and intervened] as it does their own beliefs and morals/ethics.
I have sympathies with your significant concerns about the bureaucratic and on-size-fits-all 'rules' on benefits as they pertain to individuals who have been in the justice system (it should be flexible enough to be suitable for practically all - no system will be perfect), but I'm not sure that it may apply in this case.
I think that a system that is cross departments working to benefit all would be better, but the way the Civil Service works and is managed, I just can't see that without huge (but needed) changes, which would be resisted to the extreme by the unions, middle/upper management and (often) ministers, who all have (different) vested interests in keeping things as they are in one way or another.
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Effective rehab won't bring back the life she took. it won't comfort the family who have lost a loved one.
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Effective rehab won't bring back the life she took. it won't comfort the family who have lost a loved one.
Nor will anything else. I don't suppose a hefty sentence will provide much comfort either, just a feeling of 'justice having been done'.
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So, out in 2.5 years.
For what I would call murder !!!!
No further comment from me.
Whilst waiting trial the woman committed another offence.
"Moughan was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, and later released under investigation.
But two months later, police found her slumped in another damaged car, heavily drunk.
The second incident took place on December 1, when a member of the public called police to report a woman who had 'passed out' in a Fiat Punto."
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10183041/Mother-t...l
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Sadly, deportation - to America or Australia - is no longer an option. However, a year or two of community service in a rural area of a developing country with no access to alcohol or drugs might be a valuable corrective experience.
Edited by John F on 10/11/2021 at 12:54
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Sadly, deportation - to America or Australia - is no longer an option. However, a year or two of community service in a rural area of a developing country with no access to alcohol or drugs might be a valuable corrective experience.
Or compulsory attendance at A&E to see the effects of others driving like she did...
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Sadly, deportation - to America or Australia - is no longer an option. However, a year or two of community service in a rural area of a developing country with no access to alcohol or drugs might be a valuable corrective experience.
Or compulsory attendance at A&E to see the effects of others driving like she did...
........or the mortuary. A fresh shrine has just appeared on our country road into town - and an 18yr old has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
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Sadly, deportation - to America or Australia - is no longer an option..
And these days it would be a lot easier to get back again .... (except for Covid, of course).
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So, out in 2.5 years.
For what I would call murder !!!!
No further comment from me.
Whilst waiting trial the woman committed another offence.
"Moughan was arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, and later released under investigation.
But two months later, police found her slumped in another damaged car, heavily drunk.
The second incident took place on December 1, when a member of the public called police to report a woman who had 'passed out' in a Fiat Punto."
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10183041/Mother-t...l
And she only got a 6 year driving ban, no compulsory extended driving test, not even a standard retest to re- acquire her licence.
A compulsory extended driving test is as good a driving ban for life for most offenders, very difficult to pass, driving examiners hate drunk drivers.
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