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Originally Posted by martyh
are you honestly telling that 2 or 3 weeks ago a woman wearing a pair of stolen shorts that she didn't steal would have got jail .
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I am saying nothing of the sort.
The fact that the courts are handing out stiffer sentences to rioters does not prove that the government has changed the law or the guidance that governs sentencing.
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I know that judges have always had these sentencing powers
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And that really is all there is to it.
---------- Post added at 19:57 ---------- Previous post was at 19:49 ----------
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Originally Posted by Damien
Well something has changed. While the Judges will be sentencing according to existing guidelines I don't believe they would handed down these prison terms for the same crimes had they taken place outside of the riots.
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Who is saying otherwise? Of course context is important. Unfortunately some people have jumped to the entirely illogical conclusion that the way the courts are sentencing rioters/looters must necessarily be due to some active government participation. If true, that would be a scandal of a magnitude big enough to bring the government down.
Government can influence the courts by setting down offences and punishments in law but it cannot act to influence a case, or cases, in specific circumstances. All members of the government can do is make loud - and public - noises about the courts making use of the powers they already have, whilst carefully re-stating their intention not to unduly influence proceedings.
Ladies and gentlemen, what we are seeing this week are magistrates and circuit judges up and down the UK noting the public fear and outrage and sending some very stern messages intended to stop it happening again. Nothing more, nothing less.
Nevertheless, if a sentence is arguably too harsh, even in the context of the recent riots, the appeals process remains available to any who wish to use it.