Soft laws in the UK

And people here where I live now asked why I moved here from there

I lived only 10 minutes from North peckham Est where Damilola Taylor was murdered TBH he wasn't the first but was the most publicized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Damilola_Taylor

That estate was a death trap designed for muggers.

If anyones interested a bit of info about the place I called home.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckham

 

Ah the Sunny State of Southwark I know it so well...

Born in Dulwich and my Secondary Education was in Peckham and the lovely place that is New Cross, These days you would prefer to have some kevlar and a Beretta 92F rather than a dog...

People wonder why in my mispent youth I didn't bother wasting words in an arguement, I used to just put them on the deck by whatever means in record time and then ask them if they had a problem lol

Perfect pre armed forces training on a plus note I will say

 

LOL I went to William Penn school Dulwich.

What always made me laugh was they had a 10 foot high Henry Moore sculpture in bronze called The Striding Man which was bought by a big chunk of money left to the school for a swimming baths and the governers spent it on that instead.

We used stand back and see how far we could spit on it from.

Its actually worth millions now.

 

keep fit fanatic.

 

I worked for the Police for a while, on the building side not as a copper and ask the chief of police at the station to define minimum force. Basically if you beat 15 shades of sh*t out of some one and not have a scratch on you, then you are likely to be facing some sort of chrage for assault. On the other hand if you only do what's considered the minimum to protect yourself then that's fare enough. That minimum will be decided by the officers that are attending the indecent, therefore there is no laid down guide line to how much damage you can do and still be on the right side of the law. As an example, this was in Peckham as it happens. A mate of mine came out of the block where he lives and caught 2 blokes trying to steal his motor bike. One got away and other one got a right good kicking, in fact to the point where he gave up his mates address..lol. The police turned up and the bloke tried to have my mate done for assault. The police's attitude was well it's your fault for getting caught and then promptly went to pay the other bloke a visit. On another day this might have been very different if a different officer had turned up. A mate of my dads got mugged by 3 blokes one night and kicked the crap out of 2 of them. This got a far a court before the judge threw it out on the grounds of self defence.

 

The problem swith the law in this country is that it protects property and the rich, there was a fight outside my house the other day when i was out, when i returned home i was questioned by the local idiot plod, one person in hospital too afraid to tell them what had happened so the local thug is let off with it again had he been caught he would have been give maybe £70 fine and 20 hours community service. Law on the UK is a joke.

 

One Caveat I'd add to that is "In fear for your life"

If you are put in the situation where you think it's them or me, one of us is going to die, then killing some one is justified under law.

 

Section 3(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 states: 'A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large'

Issue is that its open to debate on what is deemed resonable force and each circumstance is taken on its merits at the time, there is no "one law fits all situations".

 

The judge didn't know what Twitter was, and neither did my mother.

 

Zomg I cannot believe no one in this thread has challenged this view. If you steal something you get your hand cut off? This leaves me speechless.....

 

Actually it would leave you handless lol just couldn't resist that I'll get me coat.

 

How else in this country are you going to control this crime. It's getting worse everyday.

I had another stolen this year and these guys aren't scared and will tell straight that its a minor offence and the cops won't really bother.

If I had my own I would have a damn shotgun in the store and shoot them if I could as I hate theft. I don't why I must work my butt off 60 hours a week just for these idiots to roam free.

 

We already do control crime. People go to prison.

No it's not getting worse every day.

Yes because theft justifies murder does it?

To go back to your earlier point about 'cutting people's hands off' that doesn't stop crime. People still steal in countries with barbaric punishments such as this. In America the states where they still have the death penalty (which I still find incredible in a developed country in this day and age) don't have less crime than states that got rid of the death penalty.

 

Sorry but they should never have done away with National Service, it doesn't have to be military variety because work in hospitals and the emergency services should count also. I believe they still maintain National Service in some European Countries.

 

personally, i wouldn't want to go to a war i didn't support.... so no, National Service can bugger off

And "soft laws"?.... try the hunting ban, that law didn't make one bit of difference at all, and the police support hunting so they do nothing to stop it or enforce the "law"

(Pro or anti hunting talk is off topic, please don't make me go into it)

 

I just love the way people in this country complain about "soft laws" and argue for bringing back capital punishment and the chopping off of hands while at the same time worrying about the threat of Sharia law being introduced in Britain.

C'mon, son: the law is "soft" only when we feel wronged and the perpetrator is not punished hard enough to our liking. When we get caught speeding however, the law is "unreasonable". And Sharia law? Well, that's just barbaric. Now let's go bash some gays.

 

thats not an accurate appraisal of common conception,

common conception is that kids / teenagers feel free to walk around and intimidate and the worst they are likely to get is an asbo.

if i speed i should be punished no problem with that. but to the normal citizen we see the police on the side of the road looking for people speeding, but very rarely do we see police on the beat looking for (and dealing with) troublesome youths. these youths WILL have no fear of shouting abuse following you and kicking you if you cross them in even the slightest way

Im about to go buy some sandwiches and i'm certain i will see a group of 4 people hanging around spitting on the floor in black tracksuits (generally causing intimidation)

shoudl the police not be dealing with them rather than someone doing 45mph in a 40

Its just that when rapists get 2 years in prison people think the punishment does not fit the crime, pedophiles also.

as for Sharia people do not like the growth of Muslim (Islam?) beliefs, and reject it on that basis. i do not know enough about it to judge but i bet that some parts would be welcomed and some should not come anywhere near this country if they where explained in full

 

In my opinion one of the biggest causes in the rise of youth crime is the dwindling numbers of police officers on the beat.
In Feltham where I live the youngsters see it as a kind of sport to go CSO baiting. Toothless plastic coppers are not the answer.
I once saw a group of very young kids around 12 to 14 years old just casually walk into an off license, pick up a case of beer and walk out. Despite the fact there was CCTV they have no quarms about doing this as they know that even if they are caught the most they will get is a caution, if that.

 

Depends on your perspective doesn't it. There are many more deaths caused by bad driving than murder yet most forces have large murder squads and speeding is left to poorly funded cameras. From a hard headed view the best way to make the country safer would be ban out right any one braking the rules of the road and paying for this increase in prosecutions by reducing the numbers of CID officers investigating serious crime.

Of course all crime is serious when you are the victim but you want to see soft law look to the road deaths where killing someone with a car will get you the most serious punishment of a driving ban .

Never really understood why people see driving offences as less serious, well they do until their little girl is run over....

 

agreed however i was using the example of a road where no-one in there right mind would ever consider crossing (bypass)