Jon Venables back in prison
Discussion
Breadvan72 said:
Prison and parole board work. I think that nurture trumps nature.
I agree to an extent. The trouble is, when you assume nurture has worked - or rather, when the authorities deem the offender has been reformed - and you release a criminal back into society, you thereby expose parts of society to a risk. Recidivism happens. Many lives have been blighted by people who who arguably should have been behind bars but, for various reasons, were not. What risk is acceptable or fair to impose on society?La Liga said:
Digga said:
What risk is acceptable or fair to impose on society?
Practically, one balanced by cost. We operate a near-full prison capacity all the time. Breadvan72 said:
Society wants perfect policing, perfect criminal justice, and a perfect penal and offender management system. Society, as is usual, wants these things for a tenner.
IME, most people realise both policing and the prison system are woefully underfunded and would be happy to see a modest rise in taxes for a commensurate increase in spending in these areas, or better yet, funds diverted from less pressing matters, such as our Breadvan72 said:
I act for the Parole Board and the Home Office sometimes.
Thanks.But do you actually deal with criminals/ inmates face to face ?
I'm afraid I don't agree with the nurture vs. nature argument in some cases.
I've seen all kinds of things including 'crimes of passion" and I can understand why these type of offences happen. Sometimes, in certain circumstances, people just lose it.
But I've also dealt with some people who are just wrong - a hepatitis and HIV infected, drug addicted sex offender springs to mind.
Just think about the victims here for a second, one of whom was quite elderly.
This man simply did not/ does not care. He showed absolutely no remorse and, if you had dealt with him, you would understand that some people are not wired up correctly.
Due to the crime committed by Venables and Thompson I think they fall into this category.
Edited by Red 4 on Wednesday 29th November 13:55
Breadvan72 said:
Society wants perfect policing, perfect criminal justice, and a perfect penal and offender management system. Society, as is usual, wants these things for a tenner.
You are spot on there and that saying could be applied to many other areas of government.Re the justice system, I think the general public in a lot of cases would just like the punishment to fit the crime and for it to be reasonable, not perfect. Mistakes will happen as the CPS / judges / juries etc are all made up of humans who are of course infallible. And with the caveat that none of us here see EVERY fact that goes into determining the sentence, some sentences seem ridiculously lenient when the light is shone upon them.
On the thread detailing the tragic crash in Leeds, it is said that the father of two of the youngsters killed in the car had been sentenced to eight years for a truly awful crime. Won't go into details on here as its the wrong thread but it really appears a woefully short incarceration for the crime committed, and given that he would have been eligible for release well before the time served, it feels like a kick in the teeth to those of us who are law abiding that the guy might have been out in 4 or 5 years.
I think the public are realistic enough to know that you really can't lock someone up and throw away the key but equally, people like Venables should now not see the light of day for a very, very long time given that he has shown an inability to control his deviant urges. Thompson, I think, is different because he seems to have kept his nose clean (as much as we can tell) but Venables, whether or not he was the leader of the pair or not, is running out of chances, if he hasn't already.
".Breadvan72 said:
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