British Justice…

Remember that most of the members of the Labour government who have been responsible for framing legislation are barristers. Which is to say if they don’t know about perverse laws, who the fuck does? So they can only have done this on purpose.

From Constantly Furious:

Paul Clarke of Reigate can tell you.

Mr Clarke found a discarded shotgun and – rather than blagging a bank, or shootin’ up some boyz in da ‘hood – decided that he should hand it in at the local police station.

After all, possession of an unlicensed firearm is an offence, innit?

Oh yes. It is. But, unfortunately for Paul, it’s a ‘Strict Liability’ offence. Remember them? No excuses.

So, when Mr Clarke arrived at the local nick – having had the courtesy to ‘phone ahead to announce his intention – was he offered a cup of tea and the thanks of several beaming Bobbies?

Was he fuck. He was promptly arrested, and thrown into a cell.

When the case came to court, was he given an apology for the misunderstanding and sent away, without a stain on his character?
Was he fuck. ‘Strict Liability’, see?

The judge, directing the Jury, sealed his fate, saying,

"This is an unusual case, but in law there is no dispute that Mr Clarke has no defence to this charge.

The Jury, not really knowing what the fuck was going on, and probably slightly disappointed that this was not really like on the telly at all, took a scant 20 minutes to go along with the Judge’s direction, and find the poor sod Guilty. Guilty. For fuck’s sake.
So, will the judge now unravel this mess, and sentence Mr Clarke to something proportionate and tolerable: "you will be taken from this place and given a cup of tea and your cab fare home" ?

Will he fuck. He can’t, even if he wants to.

There’s a minimum sentence for the crime of possessing a firearm. A mere judge can’t be trusted to know what’s appropriate, so he’s given guidelines from on high.

So – and here comes the sit down and brace yourself bit – when Paul Clarke is sentenced, on December the 11th, he must be sent to prison for a minimum of five years. Five fucking years. Five years in prison, for doing what pretty much every last single fucking one of us would have done in the circumstances.

Holy crap. The number of ways you can have your life fucked up at random is just ever-growing. This is another reason that mandatory minimums are grossly unjust and a politician’s knee jerk ‘seen to be doing something’ response.

But remember, as I said at the start, that many of those political kneejerkers are high fucking practitioners of law. Jesus fuckiing wept.

AJ

UPDATE: Mr Rob makes some interesting comments over at Steve Shark’s place that I feel somewhat miss the point. Responses over there deal with this well, I think.

Also, via Charlotte Gore, I see someone called Stuart Sharpe has taken leave of his senses, and in danger of being completely defeated in his own comments section. Backpedalling apace, I can tell you. I don’t want to impugn him unfairly, as he’s generally regarded as a sensible chap, but until I see evidence to the contrary, I shall have to regard him as a fucking mong.

The Devil is, as ever, uncompromising on this matter, and is spot on.