At a Labour Party meeting tonight this story came up, you know where the Judges are letting 'dangerous' criminals go because of the 'advice' from John Reid MP the Home Secretary. I should point out here that I am NO fan of John Reid's, however, this is absolute rubbish!
Does anyone seriously buy that a Judge (separate from the influence of Government) would be influenced by a letter from the Home Secretary saying that the Judicial system should only send someone to jail if it is necessary, if they are a danger to their community? Obviously not if the news reports of a known Paedophile being released with a high incident of re offending are correct. I think the point that many of the news papers are printing tomorrow is correct it is an establishment revolt, maybe not in the way they will print it though!
The very reason the jails are overcrowded is the Judiciary unwillingness to use community disposals, where they are appropriate. Maybe the problem is that many judges don't know where they are appropriate, maybe it is that as they have never seen these disposals or researched them they are not aware of their success rate? For what ever reason they have decided to let what they determine 'dangerous' criminals back into society, this is a dereliction of their duty and they should be taken to task, even charged under some archaic law if necessary. The Home Secretary's guidance is a reminder that other disposals exist and that at present they are under utilised.
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