Some Comment on British Laws

[Aughnanure]

I lifted this 'in toto' from the Australian Firearms Discussion Forum.

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Sorry about the length of this, but it's worth the read. They used to say,

"Where Britain leads, Australia follows". I hope they're wrong -- although

we followed their muddle-headed, inane logic on "gun control" -- and notice what the article cites as the "main" causes of death.

Surprise, surprise ...

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Killings up 35pc under Labour

By JAMES SLACK, Daily Mail20:50pm 23rd June 2006

Labour's failure on law and order was laid bare last night as it emerged 250

more people are being killed each year in brutal acts of violence than when

Tony Blair came to power.

The devastating statistic has been compiled by academics who say it is final

proof Britain has become a more dangerous place to live since 1997. It

demolishes the Government's repeated claim that violent crime is falling.

The research, by the respected Crime and Society Foundation, reveals there

were a shocking 954 homicides last year - more than 18 every week.

In 1997, the total number of homicides - cases of murder, manslaughter and

child killing - was only 705. It is an increase of 35 per cent.

The main causes of death were stabbing, fatal punches or kicks, being

battered with a blunt instrument and *****shooting******.

The figures, which cover England, Scotland and Wales and will be made public

next week, are hugely damaging because they cannot be subjected to any Home

Office 'spin' or manipulation.

The CSF, based at King's College London, said this was because it was not

possible for the Home Office to 'hide a body'.

Academics point out that an increase in murder, more than any other

indicator, proves a surge in acts of violence as it is the direct end result

of more fights, stabbings or shootings.

Critics said it was hard evidence Labour had allowed violent crime to spiral

out of control. The timing could not be worse for Mr Blair, who yesterday

delivered is widely-trailed 'philosophical' speech on the need to re-balance

the justice system in favour of victims and not criminals.

It follows a series of scandals over early release for killers and lenient

sentences being handed down by the courts.

Richard Garside, acting director of the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies

at KCL said: 'So much violence is hidden, which makes estimating overall

levels of violence very difficult.

'But we can be reasonably confident about official figures on homicide

because you can't really hide a body. The homicide rate is quite a good

starting point for estimating levels of underlying violence.

'For behind every homicide will be thousands of serious acts of violence

that could easily ended in a homicide.

'The dramatic rises in homicide rates places in some doubt claims that

levels of violence have been falling in recent years.'

'Out of control'

Shadow Home Secretary, David Davis, said: 'This reinforces what we have been

saying for a long time.

'The crimes that matter to people most have spiralled out of control under

this Government because of their failure to tackle drugs and alcohol, their

failure to establish discipline in schools, and their failure to secure our

borders.'

Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said: 'The true

devastation of murder does not just affect the family of those who have lost

a loved one.

'It creates a fear factor which spreads across the entire community, making

town centres no-go areas for law-abiding people.

'For the murder rate to have increased like this makes it clear the criminal

justice system is in crisis, but what are the Government and judiciary doing

about it?

'Instead of making the public safer, they are too busy arguing with each

other over who is to blame.'

Ministers use the British Crime Survey - a random sample of 40,000

householders - to claim violent crime has been falling under Labour. But

this has been contested because of doubts over the survey's accuracy,

particularly its ability to get an accurate picture of what is happening on

tough estates where researchers are less welcome.

A damning report from the Statistics Commission watchdog, published earlier

this year, called for the Home Office to be stripped of its responsibility

for gathering and publishing crime figures, claiming spin tactics had

shattered public faith in the figures. Police recorded crime figures show

violence has rocketed under Labour, with more than one million incidents

each year.

But these are also questioned as the Government claims the rise is down to

differences in the way police record crime.

The homicide figures cut through this row, the academics say, to finally

give an accurate picture of life in Mr Blair's Britain. The research will be

made public on Tuesday in a lecture by its author, Danny Dorling, at KCL.

The revelation came as John Denham, a former Home Office Minister, made his

own damning intervention into the crime and justice debate by warning Mr

Blair the public had lost faith in his flagship community punishment

programme.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the chairman of Westminster's Home

Affairs Committee said it was 'not surprising' the public did not trust

alternatives to a prison sentence.

Mr Denham said supporters of the punishment point to those taking part

having a lower reconviction rate than criminals sent to jail.

In 2002, it was 54 per cent compared to around 67 per cent for prison

sentences But he added: 'The truth is that most people re-offend under any

sentencing option.

'It is not surprising that victims do not have confidence in community

sentences if they only offer a statistcally bettwer outcome.

'If their attacker is likely to re-offend anyway, most people will want some

unambiguous element of punishment.'

Mr Denham also criticised the 'watering down' of attempts to make community

punishments - which had a - more 'punitive system'.

He said: 'Ideas like distinctive clothing and public clear up works have

always been dropped or watered down beyond recognition at local level.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770

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Eoin.

[dhtaxi]

The man in the street has known this for a long time.

The English justice system does not work there is no deterent you kill somebody so what there is no death sentence. If you get life in prision you are back on the street in a couple of year if you behave yourself.

The only one who suffers is the family of the deceased.