James Blonde Posted 22 April , 2007 Share Posted 22 April , 2007 What absolute tosh. And what an insult to those working within the UK's criminal justice system OFF TOPIC BUT: Well, from what I see and read daily the people working in the Criminal Justice System are not doing such a great job to stop crime, despite the way the statistics are massaged by succesive governments, the prison system is a revolving door for most of these louts, there is NO deterent, and most are habitual re-offenders. Try listening to the victims, they are the ones who feel neglected and receive no sense of justice, once the intial story is reported in the papers or makes a spot on the local news on t.v. they are completely forgotten about, while various organisations are bending over backwards to make sure the criminal is well taken care of and his or her rights are not violated. My brother worked as a Prison escort officer in a London Court room (over 8 years) and explained to me how these people (criminal) had to be handled with kid gloves, he said they know the law inside and out and actually would boast as to how little time they were going to serve behind bars, he was even physicaly attacked by the mother of one little plonker who had just got sent down for dealing drugs, in the courtroom in full view of the judge, barristers, police, and 15 assorted members of the public. When the mother, was finaly was brought up on charges many months later, her defence lawyer had the gall to ask my brother IF he was not mistaken that an actual assualt taken place, and was asked to prove that she had attacked him. You cant blame the police either they are not given enough resources to do their job either, the problem is the Law is too soft. Connaught Stranger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 22 April , 2007 Share Posted 22 April , 2007 Try telling that to some of the victims, I feel sure they will disagree. Couldnt agree more. The important word in your post is "some". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 22 April , 2007 Share Posted 22 April , 2007 (edited) they are completely forgotten about, Just not so. As any victim liasion officer working for the Police or Offender Management Service will tell you. John Edited 22 April , 2007 by John Hartley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womo Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 All I can manage! Womo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvis Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Shocks me that a man of 32 was arrested for this, when many men of maybe 19 or 20, possibly his relatives, died to give him the freedom to be such a nob. No words left..... Jarvis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffo Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 You cant blame the police either they are not given enough resources to do their job either, the problem is the Law is too soft. Connaught Stranger Connaught, completely agree have several friends who are / were Police Officers, their hands are now tied with Human Rights / beurocracy, if they arrest someone they have to make sure it's a definate Guilty outcome when presenting the case to CPS. These people know the system and play it to their full advantage, things have become so bad long serving Officers cant wait to get out. . I also know several retired Prison Officers and you would not beleive the treatment offenders get in prison, (such as TV's in cells with en-suite facilities), no wonder it'n no detterent. toffo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 ....were Police Officers, their hands are now tied with Human Rights / beurocracy, if they arrest someone they have to make sure it's a definate Guilty outcome when presenting the case to CPS. Hello Toffo I'm sorry, but I thought that this would be the preferred outcome.....surely guilt should be one of the absolute prerequisites before being locked up....or are you suggesting that innocent people should be banged up Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon6640 Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 I wonder what stiff penalty he may face. Ivan. I don't suppose Field Punishment No.1 is still available........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon6640 Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Hello Toffo I'm sorry, but I thought that this would be the preferred outcome.....surely guilt should be one of the absolute prerequisites before being locked up....or are you suggesting that innocent people should be banged up Andy Andy, As a member of the thin blue line what is meant is that when presenting a case to CPS they have a decision making system involving a 'threashold test'. What this means is what is the liklihood of a guilty verdict. Very few cases are ever 100% (baring admission) but in this country you should be judged by your peers (the jury), what a lot of us feel is that instead of only knocking back the obvious no hopers CPS will not prosecute (and therby let our peers hear the evidence) cases that fall into the grey area. This course of action being driven by a desire to improve the CPS prosecution rate. Therefore the frustration comes from working a case, which in the case officers view would be credible to put in front of the jury, only to see it 'no further actioned' or batted down to a lesser offence in order to make it more attractive to the defence. I must say this opinion is my own not my organisations and whilst I cannot speak for all of my colleagues I can say that the view is widespread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 This course of action being driven by a desire to improve the CPS prosecution rate. At the risk of getting even further off-topic, I suspect most of us who work (or have worked) in the criminal justice system would tend to agree with you on this. That said, I've just had a nosy at the CPS figures for my area (Greater Manchester), for Crown Court prosecutions. They show that, in 78% of cases, the defendent enters a guilty plea. Of the remainder which went to trial (about a thousand), one third later had a "not guilty" verdict. I can understand why CPS would not want their "success rate" to be worsened by more borderline cases going before a jury. I have some sympathy for that view - not only is it damned expensive but a low success rate would tend to bring the system somewhat into disrepute. At the end of the day, it would reflect badly on everyone involved, including the police officers who have worked hard to establish the evidence. The "batted down" cases are a difficult area as I'm sure you know. Is it better to have the offender convicted of something, rather than run the risk of them being convicted of nothing. I was a juror fairly recently on a very serious case. We werent able to even reach a majority verdict. Afterwards we found it it was the man's second trial - the first had also been unable to reach a decision. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon6640 Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 John, A very balanced answer and I thank you for responding, clearly this is a system which will NEVER please everyone. I think we should probably put this subject to bed. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Jon I agree the thread is now very well past its sell-by date, particularly as the original matter may now be "sub judice". John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffo Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 john / Jon Have to agree. Toffo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthw Posted 23 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Hi All, I also agree. It was very intresting while it lasted though Thanks All Anth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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