princeperch's afternoon in the local mags court

[streaky]

princeperch said:

Why do some people think lizzie duke gold chains and trakky bottoms are appropriate to wear in front of the beak?

Because standards in the legal profession have slipped? - Streaky

[xxplod]

I blame the useless do-gooding JPs. No offence to any lay magistrates on here, but they are a waste of space. As said, the chavs think they'll get another community based punishment or fine and don't give a crap. The difference in sentencing between lay mags and stipes at my local Magistrates is staggering.

We have one stipe who jails just about everyone for everything. One of his classic lines I heard him say to a defence solicitor as he stood up was,

"If you're going to tell me your client has found a new job, got a new partner or baby or otherwise intends to turn over a new leaf, can I suggest you sit down?"

[gh0st]

xxplod said:

"If you're going to tell me your client has found a new job, got a new partner or baby or otherwise intends to turn over a new leaf, can I suggest you sit down?"

;
- now THATS more like it!!

[turbobloke]

xxplod said:

The difference in sentencing between lay mags and stipes at my local Magistrates is staggering.

Sounds like the stipe has a more down-to-earth grasp of the realities of life. We hear a lot from the wishy washy dooey goody namby pamby bleedin heart lefty liberal members of the criminal appreciation society about prison not reforming criminals...and? The viewpoint I prefer without a shadow of doubt is the one that takes custodial sentences as performing a civic duty - removing the 5h1ts from society to a place where they can only harm each other, not the rest of us. So they offend again? Lock the ba5tards up again then. We pay enough taxes to build dozens of new prisons each year and if some people just can't resist passing the entry test, they should feel free to enter.

The differential sentencing is a worry though, there should be some sort of consistency in like-for-like cases. The only problem is that if this was sought, then 'they' would insist that the stipes became more lenient rather than the lays getting tougher. Shame.

[xxplod]

Most stipes are usually much more clued up and don't take any BS from defence solicitors. Prison does work. It works very well. Biggest problem is that the people who really need a long term custodial sentence with proper support to get off hard drugs, tend not to get it. Instead they get a series of short term sentences, for persistent petty thieving, hence perpetuating the revolving door criminal justice system, which simply puts them back into the drug addled environment from which they came.

I ran the London Marathon for the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust.

See: www.rapt.org.uk

This is where we should be going with rehab for persistent offenders.

>> Edited by xxplod on Sunday 10th July 18:54