Thursday, March 4, 2010

Our Justice System Sucks!

Will someone please explain to me what is happening to our criminal justice system?

Two stories from today’s paper. A TV producer who filmed himself in bed with his girlfriends gets eight months in prison. And a moron who killed a police dog with his car and injured two police officer while three times over the limit gets a suspended sentence. The only thing I can think of is that it reflects the way our country despises the middle classes while it bends over backwards to help our growing underclass.

I am starting to think that vigilantism is the way to go and am thinking of starting a new series based around a guy who has had enough and goes on a Death Wish-style rampage giving villains their just desserts. We’ll see.

Just passed 101,000 words on the new Nightingale book. All going well.

Anyway, here’s the two stories (both from the Daily Mail). See if you think it’s fair:

A womanising BBC producer who secretly filmed himself having sex with a series of well-known TV and radio presenters was jailed for eight months today.

Benjamin Wilkins used a camera hidden in a smoke alarm to tape his sexual encounters with a succession of women that he lured back to his flat.

He was caught when his girlfriend - and mother of his child - discovered a box of DVDs hidden in his loft and called the police.

Judge Roger Chapple told the 37-year-old he had 'betrayed' the trust of his victims.

The judge said the effect on the women who had been filmed had to be considered when sentencing Wilkins.


And:

A joyrider has walked free from court after killing a police dog and injuring two officers in a road smash while three times over the drink-drive limit.

As his 12-month prison sentence was suspended at Newcastle Crown Court, Sean Lawson, 20, shouted ‘Get in!’

Prosecutor Geoff Mason told the court that the trail of destruction started when a VW Passat was rammed by a car in the Benwell area of the city on November 9 last year.

As the owner got out to chase two men, others jumped into the man's Passat and drove it away.

Later that night, a police officer spotted the stolen car with Lawson driving and, when he tried to pull it over, he put his foot down and accelerated away.


He then lost control, mounted a pavement and just avoided slamming into some houses.

A police car tried to box the car in but he rammed it, forcing it backwards down the road.

It was then spotted travelling on the wrong side of the road round a blind bend with no lights on doing 60mph.

Lawson again lost control and missed hitting another police car by inches.

He then drove at 90mph on the wrong side of the A695 dual carriageway, still with no lights.
Lawson then pulled a hand-brake turn, causing another collision with a police car and a dogs van.

A stinger device was then used to stop the VW Passat, which by now had its bumper hanging off.

Two police officers were also hurt in the incident at Blaydon, Gateshead. One of them needed physiotherapy to chest and back injuries.

One police dog suffered a broken back and had to be put down, while two others were injured.

Lawson, of Prudhoe, was found to be three times over the drink-drive limit during the car chase and on Monday he admitted aggravated vehicle.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with 200 hours unpaid work, a curfew and three-year driving ban.

5 comments:

NCroke said...

i honestly agree with you when you say that our justice system is falling apart. Although the TV presenter is in the wrong by making a range of video's of different women, the guy who managed to kill the police dog and injury two other police officers deserves a longer sentence. Outrageous!

Anonymous said...

I have 100% support for our bobbies, its a tough job. It would suck to have the justice system seem so un-even handed.
But, as one who has been in Ulster on patrol in the small hours of the morning and seen the results of vigilanti justice dispensed by one group or another, it might make many reconsider. Especially, when the tit for tat shit starts.

Just my opinion.

Cartouche

Stephen Leather said...

You're right, of course, Cartouche. Maybe there could be some sort of police-sanctioned training for people who wanted to set up vigilante groups? Bit like the Community Service Officers - they could have uniforms and radios and baseball bats ;-)

Anonymous said...

An organised vigilante system only works when the entire community feels equally threatened from the same well-defined source. A natural check-and-balance system then sets in, leaving less room for the cowboys to run with their own agendas. Problems creep in when you get only part buy-in from sections of the community, or when you can't accurately define a common enemy.
In Zambia we had our own community vigilante system - which was more or less sanctioned by the government because the police force just wasn't up to it. It worked well because everyone was in the same boat, with the same terrifying consequences for everybody if it failed. The vigilante group was well organised, disciplined, and recruited volunteers ONLY from within the community. We met in each other's homes and discussed things openly with families present. The community, importantly, was homogenous, all with similar backgrounds and circumstances. Our problems were therefore the same and easily definable.
When a community can't even agree on who the enemy is, or there is little community cohesion - such as in Great Britain's largest cities today - then vigilantes can make a bad problem worse.

Stephen Leather said...

Yeah, I think I'm sort of joking about vigilantism being the way forward, because I do see the problems... But then how do we solve the problem of so many bad people getting away with their crimes? The system is failing and no one seems capable of fixing it. Where's Charles Bronson when you need him (joke)