The estimable Theodore Dalrymple concludes a piece in the Wall St. Journal–worth the full read–thus:
…A woman got into an argument with someone in a supermarket. She called her boyfriend, a violent habitual criminal, “to come and sort him out.” The boyfriend was already on bail on another charge and wore an electronic tag because of another conviction. (Incidentally, research shows that a third of all crimes in Scotland are committed by people on bail, and there is no reason England should be any different.)
The boyfriend arrived in the supermarket and struck a man a heavy blow to the head. He fell to the ground and died of his head injury. When told that he had got the “wrong” man, the assailant said he would have attacked the “right” one had he not been restrained. He was sentenced to serve not more than 30 months in prison. Since punishments must be in proportion to the seriousness of the crime, a sentence like this exerts tremendous downward pressure on sentences for lesser, but still serious, crimes.
So several things need to be done, among them the reform and even dismantlement of the educational and social-security systems, the liberalization of the labor laws, and the much firmer repression of crime.
David Cameron is not the man for the job.
Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of the physician Anthony Daniels.
“Sentenced to serve not more than 30 months in prison”
For killing some one. How low can can a society get when killing someone is only worth a maximum of 2 1/2 years in jail.
No wonder the youth feel more entitled to more entitlements.
Did I read that right? 30 months for murder?
In my memmory, even in Canada…he would have been up for the “high jump”.
The proponents of this…claim capital punishment is not a deterent….as they push coins into a parking meter…and then slow up when they see a cop…..
The value of human life is indeed becoming very cheap.
You can accrue a higher (longer) sentence for shooting your chicken killing dog.
The welfare state is dying a horrible death with no shortage of examples of who NOT to emulate.
The Soviet Union, Zimbabwe, much of Eastern Europe, now Europe itself. The experiment of spending your way into prosperity has proven time and time again to be an abject failure.
Those who pretend there are no consequences to obeying the law of economics are doomed to repeat it.
Long live free people and free markets.
The same story could be written here except if the perp were aboriginal the already lenient sentence would be further reduced or eliminated.
Turdeaumania lives on.
Hey, one way of ridding the world of overpopulation, lesser crime status for murder!
30 months minus how much time off for “good behavior”? The guy’ll probably be out and killing again by Christmas. The argument against long sentences seems to be that it is no deterrent against them re-offending. My counter argument is in that case then the sentence should be even longer, because if a long sentence is not deterrent, a short one will be even less. So lets keep the murderous bastard off the streets as long as possible.
This man’s article is far better than most of the nonsense that has been written by both the left and the right about the riots (because it conforms with my opinion, of course).
I have finished about half of my summer reading list and, by far, my favorite was “The Declaration of Independents”. Everything listed by Dalrymple -welfare, education, justice – is run by government. While activities outside of government have advanced remarkably in the last few decades government programs just get more expensive and more dysfunctional.
*I refuse the new epic Steynian Tragedy in the summer while the sun shines and life feels good. Doom and gloom will just have to wait for awhile.
Well, in Ontario it is reported that a judge let numerous alledged and admitted criminals go free because (Wait for it) the Crown Prosecutor was late by less than 5 minutes.
The left has finally achieved the society they wanted in Britain; Lots of “young” people looting and killing with little consequences.
I’m not sure why the left is whining so much, aside from being perpetual whiners; the UK is well on its way to being the multicultural utopia they have always dreamed about.
Too bad you can’t go out on the streets at night for fear of being raped or robbed. But of course that’s just a silly little technicality that wouldn’t trump all the cultural enrichment we all now enjoy.
well what do any of you righties expect in a world where one presents the following evidence of a crime:
– witness
– suspect
– taxicab involved
and get LAUGHED IN THE FACE by 3 cops behind the counter.
the good news is 7 of their buddies around here are now dead. halleluha there is a God !!!
It does not matter how hard the left tries to make their countries a place for the jejune and bovine Eloi, the Morlock are always nearby, salivating.
Theodore Dalrymple has been writing about the UK’s state-sponsored underclass for years. See Amazon.
Watch “The Young Victoria”, and then read one of his books.
It will break your heart.
Shades of A Clockwork Orange. Bring on the 9th (symphony)!
I keep intending to watch the Michael Caine film Harry Brown. This looks more and more like a documentary every day.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100428/REVIEWS/100429979
Canada is not that much better. Vancouver was only different in degree. Police taser to death a poor Polish traveller and coddle a knife wielding head chopper on a bus. Go figure!
Atlantic Jim said: “Did I read that right? 30 months for murder?”
Yes indeed, for not just killing someone, but for killing someone for no reason whatsoever.
Compare and contrast Mr. Tony Martin, who killed one burglar and injured another in a HOME INVASION, and not the first such but after several such invasions. Tony baby got sentenced to -life- in prison for firing a shotgun in self defense, against armed robbers (tire irons).
Wikipedia link, which while weak is in this case fairly accurate and crosschecked out the wazoo at lots of other sites:
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Martin_%28farmer%29
Martin had his sentence reduced on appeal, not for the obvious self defense but because his lawyers (in a fit of desperation-inspired genius) claimed insanity. That got him down to five years, he was out in three due to “good behavior”, even though the parole board refused to release him (risk of killing some other pr1ck in self defense y’know), because there’s mandatory release at three years on a five year sentence if the convict behaves properly in jail. Even murderers. No kidding.
Just to recap: 30 months for unprovoked murder, life for self defense against armed assailants.
Oh, and if two cops shoot Harry Stanley dead because he’s got a freakin’ table leg wrapped in a plastic bag, they get off. Scot frickin’ free. Despite four inquests.
So let us not pretend that the British ruling class hasn’t been begging for rioting for a long, long time, shall we?
Likewise our enlightened rulers in Canada. Plenty of examples to go around here as well.
But, in Kelowna, a positive note, (if that’s possible). The gangters are killing one another.
That’ll be two minutes for looking so good.
Mike in White Rock >
“The gangters are killing one another”.
I just saw that story. No doubt these kind of gang killing are only going to increase over time. A good guess based on historical precedents would be another run of the mill Canadian Asian drug gang doing the shooting in this case.
What I got out of the report though, was that they used “Fully automatic machine guns” by all eyewitness accounts.
I thought “FULLY Automatic” machine guns have been banned in Canada for decades now. Goes to show how well the Liberal gun confiscations really work. Do you have a fully automatic machine gun? Didn’t think so, yet all the foreign gangs running around our streets do, as they do in the UK with even more draconian gun laws.
We have now confirmed that absolutely no bullets, none, nada, zero were harmed during the Gang on Gang hit in Kelowna last night.
Good news for honest citizens.
‘”There are people here with nothing,” this rioter continued: nothing, that is, except an education that has cost $80,000, a roof over their head, clothes on their back and shoes on their feet, food in their stomachs, a cellphone, a flat-screen TV, a refrigerator, an electric stove, heating and lighting, hot and cold running water, a guaranteed income, free medical care, and all of the same for any of the children that they might care to propagate. ”
Reminds me of the scene in Life Of Brian where John Gleese asks what the Romans ever did for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWfh6sGyso
The Kelowna shootings had nothing to do with Asian gangs,it was one of the Bacon brothers who was offed,presumably by another gang,of decent god-fearing white gangsters.
I heard Bacon was driving an expensive Porsche. And they say crime doesn’t pay.
I’d love to find out how much the Bacon brothers have cost us in police and Court costs over the past several years. At one time the Abbotsford cops had the entire family under 24/7 surveillance for their own protection from other gangs.
At what point do we start to charge judges for the obvious results of bad decisions? How about suing for malpractice.
Baseball bat sales up 6000% in UK because the ruling class took away the law abiding citizens’ guns.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/09/technology/amazon_riot/
From the mouth of a Liberal/ Left God –
“A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity” – Sigmund Frued
As I said on a previous post, “In this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.”
The deterent effect of severe punishment is totally under rated by those of the “human relations, spread the wealth, they’re not responsible for what they are” belief. The deterent effect would work on those committing the crime and those saying it is not their fault.
If the criminals start killing the kids of socialist/liberal politicians you wanna bet things would change in a bloody hurry?
The days of roses for welfare are over.
The money has run out with the patience of people barly able to keep supper on the table. While the wildings of a broken system based on “anything goes” riot with abuse with the money given them by hard working people.
People are feed up paying welfare Corporations, politicians & Billionairs a free ride.
The entitlement age is over .
I remember when Ralph Klien took 250, 000 people off the dole to 12, 000. Within 3 months these folks got a job. Guess who they voted for?
The guy who restored their dignity.
Only the hard cases left to BC (they where given a free bus ticket). The rest couldent stop bragging about how they now worked in the same papers who condemed the move as vicious.
JMO
It’s like England is a write-off.
He got a lighter sentence because it’s manslaughter, not murder. There’s a big difference between premeditated murder and an accidental killing.
That said, there really should be an extra penalty for crimes committed while on bail, or house-arrest. Maybe double or triple the usual sentence. But that would require a fairly serious change in legislation; nothing like it has ever been implemented before.
Accidental, Alex? Only accidental in the sense that he intended to kill someone else and got the wrong person. Had he killed the person his girlfriend called him about, would it have been a higher sentence? What a joke. Drive all the way across town to hit someone in the head and then they die, should be premeditated.
OK, I see 3 possibilities here:
1. You didn’t read the article.
2. You’re an idiot.
3. You’re a troll.
Which one of the above best describes your reason for completely misrepresenting the situation by claiming he intended to kill anyone?
@alex:
Let me quote from a British defense attorney on the topic of murder in the UK:
“The law does not require the intention to kill for a prosecution for murder to succeed. All that is required is an intention to cause serious bodily harm. That intention can be fleeting and momentary. But if it is there in any form at all for just a second – that is, if the blow you struck was deliberate rather than accidental – you can be guilty of murder and spend the rest of your life in prison.
“Moreover, while self-defence is a complete defence to a charge of murder, the Court of Appeal has ruled that if the force you use is not judged to have been reasonable – if a jury, that is, decides it was disproportionate – then you are guilty of murder. A conviction for murder automatically triggers the mandatory life sentence. There are no exceptions.”
This is from the defense attorney for one Brett Osborn, sent to prison for FIVE YEARS after deciding not to risk LIFE imprisonment (which in the UK is actually only 15 years) by pleading guilty to manslaughter in a case where he stabbed a drug-addled home invader with a steak knife in defense of himself and his pregnant girlfriend.
Google “Brett Osborn” and “Wayne Halling”. The case is from 2003.
So, according to a LAWYER, in the UK you can be charged WITH MURDER if you intend to “cause serious bodily harm” and the person dies.
I’d say in this case the “intention to cause serious bodily harm” is a given, and a death did indeed result.
Brett Osborn received a sentence of 60 months – twice that of the perp here, and Osborn was acting in defense of himself and others.
seems to me there are about 10000 barbarians still in the streets of vancouver. two months after they tear up the city and they havent arrested anyone. something really wrong in looneytown Vancouver
Kevin:
The operative phrase is “serious bodily harm” (or “grievous bodily harm” under the verbatim letter of the law). A broken nose or a concussion does not fall under that definition. Repeatedly stomping on an unconscious persons head would. It’s extremely difficult to get a murder conviction in a case where the assailant struck a person with a single bare-handed blow; any competent attorney would realize this, and try for a lesser offense.
As for Osborne, he was a fool for pleading guilty. A jury would never have convicted him, and his lawyers told him not to take the plea. He ignored them and chose to plead guilty, hoping for a 3 year sentence and instead got 5. I feel sorry for the guy, and I think the judge who sentenced him was a complete douchebag (as was the prosecutor who charged him in the first place), but his case is an anomaly caused primarily by his own foolish decision.