maybe I'm being naive but if enouh of us stand up and yell surely some politician somewhere has got to realise that we as the public arnt afraid if things get tougher for those who choose to be outside the law and they dont have to worry about a backlash for being seen to be tougher. Might just apply to be a magistrate and start the ball rolling BT
</p> The no-job-prospect excuse is a thing of the past. There are plenty of opportunities open to them which they choose to reject. </p>
This goes towards points 1 and 5 A minority of people commit a majority of crime. By this I mean the constant repeat offenders that when brought into court have a number of previous arrests, warnings, convictions that are staggering. I agree that if we don't have enough prison space then we need to build more, not let people out early. I live in the USA now and I'm staggered when I see some of the UK crimes, usually kids (too young to be named in some cases - sorry, but if you commit an horrific crime you should be named) that have beaten some middle-aged person to death for no reason except too much cider, drugs, etc. The Judge talks as though he will come down hard on them by giving them life. They then get 12 years and are eligible for parole after 6. That is not life. That is getting away with murder and still having your life in front of you when you get out. In the SF Chronicle this week a 24 year old gangbanger got 77 years to life for murdering another gang memeber. Now that's a punishment. He won't offend again, at least not on the outside.
exactly. I think it is crazy that if I want to better myself now as an adult I would have to pay a lot of money to go to college and take a course whilst the no good waster who goes round ruining people's lives for his own selfish gain will be given free courses to enable him to get a job ahead of me when he gets out (in two weeks normally)