This guy got just 12 months

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/12867665.Mugger_knocked_87_year_old_to_the_ground_as_he_took_her_bag/

He didn’t intend to mug her though. He was drunk and bumped into her then decided to grab her bag and leg it. He seems contrite though

Seems a bit light as he’ll only serve 2 years. However he has shown remorse and he didn’t use excessive violence.

It’ll be a long four weeks or him, let alone four years. By all accounts there are plenty of fellow inmates who want to have an indepth discussion with him…

off topic but…i really struggle to understand the ‘prison hierarchy’ mentality. Where stabbing someone to death seems fine, but pushing an old man over isn’t…

Personally, I feel that for violent crimes of this nature, we should have hard labour on prison farms.

It should be a threat, a punishment and something to be frightened of.

This is about where I stand as well…

The judges have the whole story when they sentence – not just the crime and the circumstance of the crime but also decisions about sentencing are mitigated by the actions and circumstances of the person who committed it. The same punishment would effect two different people in different ways so the parity in sentencing isn’t just about the crime committed but also a suitable sentence for the person who committed it. Considerations can be about how someone conducts themselves within the trial – admitting guilt or showing remorse for instance. But it also can reflect the defendants life and circumstance. As a for instance a custodial sentence of a given length is a harsher sentence for someone with children or dependents than someone without, as you punish a whole bunch of innocent people along with the guilty one.

It was supposed to be the case recently that judges would have to start delivering a dialogue about the factors in determining the sentence as well as the sentence itself so that it would be apparent why two seeming similar crimes would be punished differently, but it would seem if they do either the press doesn’t report it or people don’t read it.

I’d prefer that sentences reflected these things rather than simply made everything tidier for people who are neither the victim or the perpetrator.

maccruiskeen – I appreciate your well made observations and agree your final sentiment (although I find myself conflicted by the suggestion of a shorter sentence for those with ‘responsibilities/family etc’ when they would be aware of that when committing the crime). I’m sure some narrative behind Judges’ logic would aid the public perception of, and build confidence in, the fairness of sentencing generally.

This is the thing – as we have seen so many times, a defence solicitor/barrister will make use of good previous/finding god/great aunty Elspeth dying etc etc to try and mitigate down. I say bullshit.

Hard sentences, no mitigating circumstances.

East Anglian farms struggle to get staff at the wages available, hence illegal and exploitative use of immigrants. At the same time, Forces staff being laid off. Solve all the problems with prison farms staffed by ex Military personnel. Make it f*cking hard work and something to really fear. See “Bad Lads Army” or the more recent Borstal show where a hard, strict, dominant environment broke the spirit of previously “unbreakable” problem offenders and once broken, rebuilt them into something like decent human beings. No cups of tea, biscuits and chats with their social worker about their feelings – hard labour, long hours, no respite.

Harsh – yes. Fair – definitely.

“I’m pleased he’s been sentenced and I think the sentence of four years is just about the right length. I hope while he’s in prison he’ll do some thinking and when he comes out he’ll do something useful. Maybe he might decide to help people, which I think would be a good idea for him.

It’s sad that he was brought to the stage of doing something like this – not necessarily just me, it could have been anybody and they might not have got over the incident. But I’ve moved on.”