Today in Britain the Police have announced that they have arrested a man in relation to the killings of 5 prostitutes in Suffolk. This case brought back memories of Jack the Ripper and other cases where 'Ladies of the Night' were targeted. The photo above is the man that the media believe to have been arrested, one Tom Stephens, He released a press statement earlier saying that he thought he would be arrested as he knew all the suspects and had no alibis.
Well Rae Rae has now come out saying he won't drink drive again, how convenient coming after all the national condemnation. I think this is just a knee jerk reaction to the whole country being offended and he seems to have fooled most of the public and media, but he hasn't fooled me he is nothing but a lying scheming stupid little boy.
I have noticed a lot of cases coming to court lately where criminals have committed a multitude of offences and end up being sentenced concurrently. This means in effect they only serve the longest of the several sentences they are handed down. And then of course they are out after two thirds of that under the parole system. This is making a farce of the justice system. I say no more concurrent sentencing, I like the US system if you kill 5 people you get 5 life sentences, meaning you will never ever be out of Jail, In New Zealand under current law 5 life sentences at the maximum is still only 85 years... Yet this is more than fair, if you commit multiple crimes you should serve the sentences for every single one of them.
The teens involved in the 14-hour binge drinking session followed by a car chase running away from the police and rolling the van they were driving. Their parents though have said they won't be punished as it is the first time they have done something like this. In my Humble opinion this is exactly when they should be punished, if not at the first time they do something then you will keep letting them off and then eventually they will be out of control and I personally think if these kids are doing a 14 hour bender and then driving they are already out of control and need to be taught a lesson right away, it is problems like these that are leading to the culture of violence and excessive prison numbers we have. (Though in my opinion harsher sentences should be handed down) of course this will open the prisons up and increase the number of people behind bars, but I believe that it will eventually curtail and head back down as the deterant factor kicks in.
Well I am going to have my say on the court cases that are currently happening following the man attempting to rob a gun store with a machete. Personally I agree with both cases. The Man who tried to rob the place should be on a slightly higher charge than the one he is on, but thats not anything major. In the papers hundreds of people have condemned the police for prosecuting the man who shot him, I agree with the police in this case, If he didn't have a license for the gun he used he should be done under the law, but why was he working in a store when he didn't have a license to cover all the guns in the store?
I think the problem here is not with the police but solely with the law, obviously you can work in a gun store without a license to be in posession of a fire arm. This seems ridiculous. But he broke the law...its that simple.
What a load of bollocks, at a time when the rest of the country is screaming out for harsher sentences, we have the Labour Government increasing the use of Home Detention because it will increase savings. Well of course it will cost less to have them out in the community, but it will greatly increase the chance of them reoffending hence the social costs are much higher and then as the next step on from that if they reoffend they also cost more in the end when they end up getting punished for their new crimes...
Labour is out to make a quick buck, I say harsher sentences they say "Let them loose"
They are also extending the non-parole period to 2/3 of a sentence, but this is not going to make a difference when they are suggesting sentences cut by 25%... Hence an old 10 year sentce out after 3.3 years is now a 7.5 year sentence and they are out after 5...
Oh a very small increase and that is on a large sentence. a four year sentence out after 1.3years is now a 3 year sentence out after 2.
This is obscene... The link is here
David Farrar has a great post on Learning from Helen and now I suppose also from Winston as his staff have burned all copies of the leaked Brash emails as they were worried about an ongoing police investigation, this is exactly what Helen's staff did when they heard about the painting forgery issue.
Now in Part II I discussed positive role models for our kids, these two are an extremely bad example of this not only did they break the law in the first place, but then they taught out youth that the best thing to do when the cops turn up is to burn the evidence or find some other way to destroy it...
And these are supposed to be the leaders of our country, great work guys.
Violence is starting at younger and younger ages, the youth of today are growing up without good role models, they are not getting taught respect or responsibility at home and the country is slowly spiraling into a dark and dirty hole. If the violence in our society continues the way it is going soon it will not be safe to walk the streets at night without a gun in your pocket.
The problems as I see it are obvious, firstly the police are no longer respected in New Zealand a lot of this in my opinion has happened since the Traffic Officers got phased out, now that cops are being petty and having to control traffic as well they are seen as not doing their job properly and the government is more worried about them as revenue gatherers. Secondly our prison senetences are a joke, 17 years for murder??? and that is not counting that they can get out earlier than that for good behaviour after as little as 7 years. Our prisons are not tough enough, some of the criminals in prison have better treatment and lives than their families including little children on the outside. This is not right and something needs to be done about it. The soft punishments for crimes in New Zealand is starting to cause the violence...a huge number of criminals reoffend so obviously the rehabilitation is not working. So my system is simple...Sentences should be firstly a DETERENT to criminals, secondly a punishment and finally a rehabilitation, but this rehabilitation should be the last third of their sentence and no matter what they should serve out the whole thing from start to finish.
These measures would actually start to deter criminals from committing crimes. As far as I know from my experience at University it is widely accepted that Humans are cost/benefit rationalising beings, therefore if the cost is too high they are less likely to commit the crimes in the first place.
But at the same time something needs to be done to make sure these kids have positive role models from an early age, even if this means communtiy leaders working within their communtities directly and noticing at risk kids early on and helping the parents to keep them out of trouble and setting them on the right path for life. we have heard in the news lately that it is the fault of Alcohol, well this is a poor tradesman blaming his tools. These criminals need to accept personal responsibility for their actions. But while saying it is not society's fault that these criminals are doing this, I think it is now society's problem and we have to deal with it as a group.
I had fun watching FOX news last night, and following the americans reaction to Saddam being sentenced to being hung. The Shi'ites were celebrating in the streets, while in his hometown a small protest erupted as they still claim he is the rightful leader of the country.
FOX proceded to talk to a conspiracy theorist who claimed that Bush forced then judge to make a decision so he wouldn't lose control of the senate. This is most likely a load of Bull, but I must say the convienence of it is all pretty crazy. Even though perks has been sentenced, he still has his appeal, so it could be another 3 years yet before he actually hangs, yet still people are celebrating...
