stabbings

[scorpious321]

with all these stabbings that has gone on why doesnt this goverment bring in to force. get caught with a knife 6 months jail and caught with a gun 10 years automatic jail sentence
A few years ago we had a lad chassing a ethnic lad a round with a bloody big knife wanting to cut his head of just cause he was dating a white girl. He got arrested and got bail 2 days later ??

[ethandron]

I think that there is a minimum of 5 years for carrying a gun. Problem is that the prisons are already full. The solution is to hang all the murderers who are in prison to free up some spaces and then bring in a minimum tariff for carrying a gun. Think of all the money that would be saved not having to pamper all these murderers in prison! Gordon Brown could reduce taxes.

[New Judge]

It may interest readers to know that under current sentencing guidelines, the offence of Possession of a Bladed Instrument shows a "starting point" of custody for a first time offender.

New guidelines are due to come into force on 4th August and, among many other changes, the starting point for that offence has now been reduced to a Community Penalty.

So far from an automatic jail sentence for the offence, scorpius it will be less likely that such offenders will go to prison.

The issue of the gentleman you describe being bailed for such an alleged offence is quite separate. Apart from the most serious offences (and this is not among them) judges and magistrates do not consider the seriousness of the offence when deciding whether to grant bail before conviction. They only have to consider whether the accused is likely to commit further offences, fail to appear for the next hearing, or interfere with witnesses.

[R1Geezer]

The length of sentences is largely irrelevant until the government introduces the radical policy of actually punishing criminals and then creating some jails that are slightly more harsh than Butlins.

[tufty7]

Perhaps what it needs is celebrity stabbing to get the ball rolling , not nice I know , but mp's and the upper class that make decisions on our behalf are immune to what is exactly happening on our streets, We need to build more prisons that will actually rehabiltate people to return them back into society in a safe manner , if they are not suitable make them work , prisons at the moment are not secure places, if they were how the hell do drugs get in there ??