Interesting piece of Sentencing..

[The Camel]

When I first read this article I was pretty outraged this guy got 12 years in prison.

But the more I thought about it, the more I decided it was justified.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11397515

Thoughts anyone?

[Maxriddles]

Seems fair to me, possibly even lenient.

[stonecoldkiller]

He should have been jailed, but 12 years? Cold, calculated murderers get less than this in some cases, the victim said it made his life unbearable but he will now get back to some sort of normality, countless families have to live without lost ones as a result of murderers who get less than 12 years. The sentence seems hefty, or maybe its just that the justice system as a whole is totally unbalanced.

[TightPaulFolds]

Civilized society requires that justice be administered properly and fairly, anyone who tries to compromise that for their own ends threatens society itself, send them down, for a long time.

It matters not who murders whom or how much is stolen from how many, if you do not have a justice system you can rely on to punish and deter it.

I think that was probably the consideration before they looked at the (not insubstantial) effect on the victim.

[hettonmobster]

12 years seems a bit harsh imo.

[taximan007]

Totally justified IMO on the grounds of possessing the pictures/images in the first place

[AndrewT]

Compare with this case - where getting drunk and hitting a woman in the face and knocking a guy out cold is not deemed bad enough to go to jail at all.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/841780-thugs-avoid-prison-after-tube-assault

[Longines]

There was an interesting story on R4 this morning where they put a hypothetical sentencing scenario to a focus group and asked them what the appropriate sentence would be. I instantly said '3 years'.

The choices ranged from 100 hours community service to 9 months inside. Only one person said 9 months. A Judge said he would have given him 12 months.

Sigh, didn't realise I was getting that old.

[ripple11]

And for murder,........ 17 years in Jail if he keeps his nose clean, so out when he's 43.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-11382451

[MC]

Sentencing is a joke sometimes, such inconsistency around the country.

Read yesterday how a judge could only give a 2 year sentence as that was the maximum allowed for the crime when it blatantly warranted more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/09/23/i-m-driven-to-despair-115875-22581658/

12 years really only means ~6 anyway.

[DaveShoelace]

12 years is totally justified imo. First of all for having the images to plant in the first place.

But also the impact of this had he got away with it would have destroyed several lives, it would have lost the guy his job, probably caused a huge rift in his family, lost him all his friends and maybe even get him assaulted in some way for being a nonce. I've always thought that one of the hardest and unjust things in the world is when someone gets sentenced for something they haven't done, but add child porn to that and its the sort of thing that would make even the most sane man top themselves.

[kinboshi]

6 years in prison looks like suitable punishment for him and a deterrent to those who might consider doing the same thing - therefore providing protection to potential victims of a similar crime in the future.  As Barry said, had he 'got away' with this crime look at the number of people's lives that would have been absolutely devastated.  It's probably one of the most harmful crimes against an individual that doesn't actually involve physical injury that I can think of.

[gatso]

rape and being a nonce are the 2 things you really don't want to be put away for if you've not done them. trying to get someone done for either is downright evil, hard to put a length of sentence on that

[GreekStein]

might be a silly question but always wondered - in prison how do people know what you're in for?

[Claw75]

my initial reaction is that it seems harsh and i would have though somewhere around 5 years would be nearer the mark.  If he's likely to serve 6 then sentence seems about right.