Why Only 15 Years Minimum For This Savage?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-40485852
Should throw away the key if you ask me.

[Islay]

Why only 15 years?
/Parker had changed his plea to guilty "at the 11th hour"./
Therefore automatically reducing his jail time.

[ToraToraTora]

so pleading guilty makes it less of a crime does it? Perhaps in the Islay dimension that no one can comprehend.

[Baldric]

I expect someone will be along with the usual Sentencing Guidelines
C & P shortly, but in this case I'm inclined to agree with the OP.

[douglas9401]

Tora, we already did this dance about sentencing yesterday and this morning with the child killing teen.

It doesn't end well.

[Islay]

You asked why he only got 15 years - I answered that.
I did not state that I agreed with it so stop trying to put words in my mouth!

[ToraToraTora]

I'll save them the time balders, he pleaded guilty so that's alright then. NOT, he's saved a lengthy trial, big deal, the victim is just as dead. People like Islay are the same people who know the price of everything and the value of nothing. All they can do is spout the "rules", they cannot empathise or comprehend ,merely snipe their soundbites from the side lines.

[ToraToraTora]

"You asked why he only got 15 years - I answered that. " - can you not read between the lines Islay? Can you not see the rhetorical aspects here? Must I spell it out in words of one syllable?

[jim360]

It's possible to have both, TTT. I don't think there's a single one of these "Why is the sentence so short?" posts where a part of me hasn't agreed with the outrage. But another part of me accepts that sentencing follows guidelines that, to some extent, *have* to be dispassionate.

It's probably important to preserve the principle that guilty pleas lead to some reduction in sentencing, because if it made no difference then the particularly malicious might just allow a lengthy and possibly painful trial to go ahead, time after time, even knowing that they'd lose, as some last twisted act of abuse of the victims and their families. I'm not happy about it, and I've no doubt that Islay is the same. But the rule is in place for a reason and no matter the disgust at the criminal and his awful crime, that reason remains.

[jno]

the reason for reducing a sentence when someone pleads guilty is to keep you happy, not him. Long trials put a strain on the justice system and make lawyers rich. Voters don't like spending money. So defendants are offered inducements to plead guilty.

[ummmm]

It's a minimum. He could be kept for years longer. Hopefully!

[hc4361]

If he did get a reduction in sentence for pleading guilty, the recommended reduction for a late guilty plea to murder is 5%. The court is not obliged to apply any reduction for murder.

[ToraToraTora]

jim/jno - yes 10% off perhaps, 50% off? ridiculous.

[jno]

it's what the market will bear, TTT. Would a 10%-off voucher induce you to plead guilty rather than chance your luck with a trial? Me, probably not.

[jim360]

Without seeing the sentencing remarks it's hard to comment further. I'm afraid I can't find them and perhaps they'll never be available.

[aelmpvw]

isn't it about time that they changed the sentencing term 'jailed for life' when in the majority of cases it isn't the case?

[jno]

New Judge is around, he may be able to give more details of the thinking.

[jno]

aelmpvw, yes, I've always like the American way of calling it "15 years to life". That means what it says, minimum and maximum. "Life" doesn't, not in Britain.

[jackthehat]

TGT - You asked a question and Islay answered it.

If it wasn't, actually, the question you wanted answering, it was (as per) one of your 'Gawd, blimey....'eaven 'elp us....orf to 'ell in an 'andcart' observations you might have to remove the question mark (usually a dead giveaway that a question has been asked) and find a different way of expressing your frustration.

His time spent inside will be particularly uncomfortable when his fellow inmates find out why he is in there. I can't say I'll have much sympathy for him.

[sp1814]

Just something I think we should consider...15 years might sound like a short sentence, but to me, spending one month in jail as a child murderer would be unbearable.

Absolutely unbearable.

Every minute of every day, I would be scared witless of some other lag knifing me, putting faeces in my food, or chucking boiling water in my face.

Think about that for a moment - living with that fear for 31 days.

Then multiply it by one hundred and eighty - at minimum.

His sentence is 'at least' 15 years. He has at the very minimum 180 months of fear.

Probably more.