cuchulainn
Member
What I find interesting is not this news, but the fact that the UK has "three strikes and your out" laws -- and calls them that. I wonder how many UKers know where that metaphor comes from.
Interesting name too: National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,869993,00.html
from The Guardian
Interesting name too: National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,869993,00.html
from The Guardian
Judges get final say on gun crime sentencing
Blunkett averts Lords revolt over five year minimum term for possession as police report strong response to murder appeal
Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Tuesday January 7, 2003
The Guardian
Judges will have the power not to impose the new mandatory five year minimum sentence for carrying a gun if they believe there are exceptional circumstances, the Home Office confirmed last night.
The decision to preserve judicial discretion in the key amendment to the government's criminal justice bill to tighten the gun laws now being drafted will avert the threat of a House of Lords revolt amid fears that it could go the same way as the "three strikes and you're out" minimum sentence for career burglars which has only been used six times since it was introduced in 2000.
The five year minimum sentence represents a major tightening of the gun control laws as the current average sentence is 18 months. "A tough minimum sentence for criminals caught with illegal firearms will send a clear message that serious, violent offending will invariably be dealt with in the strongest manner," said the home secretary, David Blunkett.
Further measures are also in the pipeline to tighten controls on replica firearms and air guns. But the Home Office confirmed yesterday that there were no plans to increase the maximum sentence of six months for selling an illegal firearm to a teenager under 16.
Home Office ministers yesterday also ruled out any question of a ban on rap music lyrics that perpetrated the idea that it was "cool" to carry guns, but Mr Blunkett called for talks with key music industry figures to ensure that music did not encourage violence or break race hate laws.
"We need to talk to record producers and distributors and those engaged in the music business about what is and isn't acceptable. We can lay parameters, we can lay legislation down more firmly, ensure the police do their job," he said.
During a BBC interview he was played an excerpt from rapper Jay-Z with the lyric "mo murder for the ROC gangs, ready to fire, one body, two body, three body, four ... I'm above the law". Mr Blunkett said he was appalled but he did not want to get into the issue of censoring music lyrics.
The Home Office minister, John Denham, ruled out a ban, saying he doubted it would "be likely to get us the ear of those very young people we are trying to influence" in driving gun culture out of inner city communities.
The police strongly welcomed the news that their pressure for a minimum five year mandatory sentence had been successful: "The support of the judicial system is needed in delivering meaningful sentences if a real impact on gun culture is to be made," said the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens.
But others voiced scepticism. Simon Hughes, for the Liberal Democrats, said it was necessary to introduce an amnesty and an improved witness protection programme if the growing gun culture was to be challenged.
Paul Cavadino, of the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, said he thought that it would be ineffective when so many believed they could avoid being caught. The new sentence could add 5,000 to 10,000 to the record 72,500 prison population.
