Human Rights groups say the sentences are too tough on the looters?

[Bobbisox]

I suppose when you see the two lads getting 4 yrs for inciting a riot on FB which didn't happen anyway and someone who was actually in the thick of things getting 6 months?
Do you think the HR Laws will ever be overhauled as promised, or are we being told this for appeasement ?

[sandyRoe]

Human Rights laws are there to protect us.

[New Judge]

From what, Sandy?

[Bobbisox]

yes they are but I think, only my opinion of course, they are abused by a lot of people

[sandyRoe]

From various authorities misusing their power?

[Bobbisox]

it was on Sky News this morning Triggs, they have condemned some of the sentences handed down to the looters, I think the group was called The Howard Group and is involved in HR

[sir.prize]

I never understand why the authorities occasionally revise and increase the maximum sentences for offences. Surely the minimum sentences should be increased.

[jake-the-peg]

The point is that sentences should be proportionate with other crimes and offences that have happened before.

Someone shouldn't get a stiffer sentence just because a lot of people saw something on the TV and got cross about it.

For example the group of violent football thugs who organised a string of football riots one of which got someone killed got 4-5 years

So to give two people who tried to start a riot to which nobody turned up is clearly disproportionate.

IMHO a prison sentence is warrented - probably 2 years would be nearer the mark.

I suspect the human rights element has been tagged on by journalists trying to get people worked up and delfect attention from their own misdeeds currently coming out into the open

Seems to be working

[sandyRoe]

Bobbi, if somebody had stolen a bottle of water the day before the rioting started they wouldn't have got 6 months in prison for their sentence.
Was it th Howard League for penal reform condemned some of the sentences?

[Bobbisox]

yes it was the Howard League sandy, thank you

[Brenden]

They were charged under incitement, which can carry up to 10 years in prison. How do you get the message out to these violent thugs (I know these two lads were not involved in the actual rioting)

[Ankou]

"two lads getting 4 yrs for inciting a riot on FB which didn't happen anyway and someone who was actually in the thick of things getting 6 months"

i assume such judgements are made on the basis of their previous history as well. yes it appears unfair, but without knowing such details how can we know whether it is right or not. maybe the 6 monthers have not encountered the police before.

[Davethedog]

To me this is part of the entire problem. Why debate the sentence, they deserve to go to prison.

As far as the conspiritors are concerned, if they were planning a kidnap but didn't do it should they get probation?

This is a clear deterrent to the scum that occupy our country and I hope it give many pause for thought.

Although its been said many times, about many situations, what about the HR of those who have lost thier lives, homes, businesses and jobs.

[vulcan]

when shops were being razed to the ground and people were losing their homes and jobs, I didn't hear much about their rights. It's only when the sentences are given out do we hear about them.

[Bobbisox]

but that was only because no one took heed of them Brenden...

[jake-the-peg]

So sir.prise

Tell me how the deterrance of stiff sentences works when people don't think that they're going to be caught

[Bobbisox]

I agree with you all on most of this... I felt the same way when I heard it

[sandyRoe]

Both the 4 yearers were of previously good character.
The fact that nobody heed their call to the barracades seems to show them to be more sad than bad.
Their sentences are sure to be reduced on appeal.

[ichkeria]

The Howard League for Penal Reform?
Don't see though what the Human Rights Act has to do with it.
As pointed out the HRA is there to protect us. People are very quick to condemn the Human Rights Act until ... they feel their own human rights are under attack and then it's a different story.

[Bobbisox]

I was simply reiterating what was said on SN re: the HRA, they referred to Human Rights Groups such as the one mentioned