What a horrific case.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/to...and.5604804.jp
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What a horrific case.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/to...and.5604804.jp
Words can't actually describe just how sickening that is. :bitchy:
It'll be very interesting to see what punishment they get, since we're talking about a 13 year old and two 14 year olds.
To me, that should be life imprisonment for something like that. By the sounds of it, they have pretty much ruined that girl's life.
Just a truly horrendous story.
Theres absolutely no need to have that level of detail reported in the newspapers. Theres no 'public interest'.
How any court can pass anything other than a heavy prison sentence will be beyond me.
That is horrific, absolutely shocked by reading that. I only hope the young girl can recover from this ordeal.
The neds are getting sicker by the day.
IIRC there were two young lads down south tried to hand another boy from a tree only a couple of months ago.
Was shocked when i read this..
Why anyone would want to do that to another person is frightening, even worse when they are all so young..
Throws up another issue though, why are 14 year old girls being allowed to go "Up town" anyway..
At that age i wasn't allowed any further than 5-10 mins from my house..
Doesn't in any way, shape or form excuse what she was subjected too right enough..
Don't know about you but I wasn't kept on a lead when I was 14 and managed to not be beaten with a stilleto in an underground car park after venturing further than 10 minutes from my house.
Perhaps she stayed in town and the omni was 5/10 minutes away.
Sorry for getting on at you but it seems like you're somehow implying that this is partly the girls parents fault, which IMO, is utter BS.
Agree with that, though the report doesn't make it clear whether the victim was one of the group of cider-drinking youngsters who were thrown out of the cinema, or a stranger to that group.
The Top of the Walk is full of shockingly drunk young girls at weekend nights. It's a bad place to be then.
Can only imagine what it would've been like in a cinema with these cider drinking cretins :grr:
What is it with young folk these days? I might've had the odd cider down the park, but I think the worst it got was playing 'tap door run' - not getting chucked out of cinemas and attacking people to within an inch of their lives! :bitchy:
disgusting little cretins:bitchy:
worrying times, i have a 14 year old neice who's mates are always at her to go up the town.......
Why? They could easily have killed her. How long do you think it'll take for the victim to recover from her ordeal (if she ever does)?
I'd rather that people capable of committing such acts weren't walking the streets.
If I got my hands on someone that had done that to one of my friends or family members, I'd probably risk prison myself.
behave yourself.....this girl will have to live with this for her whole LIFE, so why should they get any less? I hope the little sh*ts are beaten to an inch of their lives or worst in prison & see how they feel being demoralised & frightened. PC brigade does my nut in.
:grr::grr::grr::grr:
Going by your logic it would be life imprisonment that you would be risking.
Don't get me wrong this is a very serious crime and should be met with strong punishment however to imprison 14 yr olds for the rest of their life is too extreme. Do you think it is right that they would be facing circa 70 years of incarceration for one crime?
Behave yourself:grr:
You are saying that because these people have comitted a crime you are advocating that they be assaulted as punishment.
You are so outraged by this crime that you wish to see it comitted again but against the original perpretrators...an eye for an eye. So all muggers should be mugged, all rapsists be raped, all murders should be murdered? Who carries out these punishments for you?
PC brigade:faf: I don't think that life inprisonment (for certain crimes) and advocating violent reprisals against criminals is an effective form of justice.
You're a lunatic.
I've posted this before and it pertains to the James Bulger case in particular (hopefully this doesn't derail the thread) but I think it's a fantastic piece on how violent crime committed by children should/shouldn't be treated by society as a whole...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/feb/06/bulger.ukcrime
Absolutely despicable & disgusting assault..i can only hope that whatever punishment is meted out to those "sicko's" by the courts it is the correct one & not one iota of remorse is shown to them wherever they end up ..they are nothing but **** !!
Well done for not getting into any bother whilst up town at that age but i know/heard of plenty incidents of kids getting jumped/reeking/attacked etc that would certainly make sure if i had kids that age i wouldn't be letting them go up there..
I went up a few times when older 15-16 and got into bother, fighting , chased, drunken nonsense to know that it's defo not a good place for young kids..
Would you be happy with your 13-14 year old daughter going up town at night?
Why are they up there in the 1st place?
My 1st post genuinely wasn't a go at the girls parents, just a question regarding the vast amounts of young teens that now seem to hang about the town reeking..
It's not all about "letting" them go up town but actually sitting down, talking and educating them about the dangers and consequences of drinking,being in the town centre at night, putting themselves in vulnerable situations etc..
.Quote:
In the early hours of the following morning police were called to a disturbance at a young person's unit on the other side of Edinburgh and found the brunette without her shoes and covered in dried blood.
She told them she had been drinking cider and had a fight with a girl who was "being wide."
The blonde was found by police the following day after being reported as a missing person
Young persons unit? Whats that? It sounds like at least 2 of them were in care of some kind or another. It also reads like the girl who was attacked was with them.
Doesn't make any difference to the horrendous time the girl went through though and I hope they are severly punished. Life would only mean 10 years anyway so there is no point in arguing over that. They would still be in their mid 20's when released.
I have posted in the heat of the moment. So I apologise for that & I certainly can't say i condone any sort of violence what so ever. But after reading the article I was & still am very angry. As the justice system as a whole in this country is wrong IMO & this girl has got to live with the horrors of this brutal assault for the rest of her life......this cannot be changed but some sort of justice has to be served. This is where my vigilante head comes in to play, it is not right nor is it big nor clever but its still there.
I hope her family & friends help her get through this & that correct justice is dished out. Nice comfy bed, PS2 & trips away are not the answer but this is what they will get.
But if this was a family member or close friend that had been put through this, then YES I beleive in an eye for an eye
What Punishment would suffice for you?
Still adopting shorthand for those who disagree with you? Classic Soviet Union stuff - dissidents are lunatics.
As for your Grauniad piece, it's a classic of the genre. Dysfunctional family, deprivation, sibling resentment :blah: In short, anything that removes any responsibility for their actions from the actual perpetrators.
I wouldn't personally advocate violent reprisals against the pondlife who perpetrated this latest attack. But people are angry, and rightly so, because these things happen and the perpetrators - who knew exactly what the potential consequences of their actions were - are protected by anonymity. They will then be further protected by social enquiry reports and the like, all of which will basically be built around Blake Morrison's and the Guardian's approach to crime. The perpetrators will end up being portrayed as victims, and the victims forgotten. They will reoffend sooner rather than later. And next time they may succeed in killing someone.
"Compassion" has been a hot topic recently. It's a good thing, but like respect, it has to be earned
IMO we would all believe in 'an eye for an eye' if soimething like this happened to someone close to you. It is comletely understandable that there will a subjective response from any victim's family.
In this case I believe that there has to be considerable custodial sentence imposed and some attempt at rehabilitation due to the age of the people involved. I do agree with you on the point that there should be less home comforts for prisoners of all ages.
Maybe I shouldny post what I think.
Sick little *******s.
I hope the young lassie recovers from this and I wish her well:boo hoo:
:hilarious
Amazing.
I stand by it. I think that a grown man wanting to batter three children to 'within an inch of their lives' by why of punishment for their behaviour is a lunatic; therefore I called him a lunatic.
It's not my Guardian piece, I just posted a link to an article that I think is very good.
And yeah, that's right - it's an attempt to clear them of any responsibility for their actions, deary me. It's an attempt to understand/explain why people act the way that they do; you clearly have no interest in that whatsoever. Your choice.
He's really taking the easy road, isn't he?
How do you know they 'knew exactly what the potential consequences of their action were' - what exactly are you basing that on? Presumably you've just read the article like everyone else.
You'd prefer them to be named? Why?
What, out of interest, do you think the fundamental basis for a justice system should be?
---------- Post added at 03:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:48 PM ----------
Yup, and yup again.
I stand by it. I think that a grown man wanting to batter three children to 'within an inch of their lives' by why of punishment for their behaviour is a lunatic; therefore I called him a lunatic.
I think three children battering, demoralising & to a degree sexually assaulting a 14 year old girl is the actions of lunatics.
I do agree that we need to establish why people commit such crimes, but in this case, bad upbringing etc...:blah: doesn't wash with me so I will stand by my views, like I said previously they are not correct but nor where the actions of those ****bags.
I am not a lunatic, just a guy who hopes that justic is served but knowing this country it wont be hence the frustrating comments.
Sounds like a highly dysfunctional group of kids with a disturbed dynamic going on between them.
I'd suggest that a good few, if not all of those children were exhibiting problems for some time and that this bullying (thought not as extreme) was far from a one-off within that group. It was probably heading towards an incident like this for some time.
So for anyone to suggest that the parents have no culpability in this is beyond the pale. Yes, fourteen year olds are often very difficult to communicate with and keep tabs on, but a gang of them shouldn't be wandering the city centre drunk on cider at all hours.
That story is disgusting, but it doesnt surprise me.
I was that age not so long ago, and this stuff happens a lot.
Not normally is it taken to this level, but it still goes on.
To erradicate the problem of anti-social behaviour in Scotlands youth is pretty much impossible IMO, however a good start would be to give these neds some proper punishment. Being realistic, all these neds are going to get is a few years in a 'young offenders' where they will get to live out a cooshty life.
We should be locking them up in real prisions, treating them like the sh*t they are, and coming down harder on the parents. Maybe then Kids might think twice before commiting crimes of this nature!
They apparently attacked two women, before the assault on the young girl.
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/to...ere.5608691.jp
It seems that it was classic case of very two disturbed young girls getting together and acting out their angst. I feel for the young girl who was enticed out of the youth club but it seems poor judgment to allow herself to be befriended by such a disturbed duo. Where were her real friends?
I agree, but sending them to a young offenders will not serve any good what so ever. Everyone has their own views what they consider to be justice or as someone pointed out my justice is the act of a lunatic:grr::bye:, people will just have to agree to disagree.
Unfortunately many parents of my generation have failed their kids. Choosing to indulge in their own selfish needs instead of those of the children.
It's no wonder that many kids nowadays have little or no respect for their elders, the law and society in general. What respect have they been shown, they must be constantly asking themselves "what do adults bring to the table?"
Shocking crime, but I fear there is worse to come.
The poster who state that we do not need to know the details, in my opinion, are wrong. Possibly because I spent last year in Spain and when you watch the Spanish news there are no boundaries to what they show you. Soldiers in Afghanistan actually pictured in the streets killed, rather than show the aftermath of where they were killed! At first I was stunned but I actually began to understand that what they were showing was in fact what was REALLY happening! Here they tell you names of soldiers nothing to do with what they are really up against!
Yes I know that has nothing to do with this story but we have been "covered in cotton wool" with news here, now they are beginning to tell it like it really happened!
Personally, since the day my daughter was born in 2002 I vowed if anyone touched her in any way (obviously not in the "normal" playground fight) I would do time for it! I have never changed my mind on this moral I have. But everyone is entitled to their own opinions and there will always be disagreement!
I wonder what the parents of these two twisted indivuduals are like? I could just be sterotyping but i'd hazard a guess that they will be junkie alcoholic types, I seem to see them more and more around these area's. No care in the world for their kids welfare, only interested in their next hit or were the next cheap bottle of cider is coming from, when you've got parents like that it's no wonder why alot of kids in the estates are so ****ed, although, make no mistake, i'm not making excuses in any way shape or form for what they done.
Anyway, heart goes out to the wee lassie, hopefully she pulls through it all.
Agree, when I was 17ish, 6 years ago or so there were fights between people all the time but that's what it was, a fight. 6 years on, you've got all these dafties that are not 17/18 running about wi knives trying to stab each other thinking they're hard as ****. Without a knife most of them are pussies who canny fight sleep.
My little cousin was stabbed at 16 a year or so ago. The blade hit his shoulder blade and stuck in it, half an inch lower and he'd be deid.
Wait til a generation or two after that. You think now is bad, just wait!
Knife crime is getting worse, defo.
10 years ago if some wee pr1cks were giving it the big one I wouldn't think twice about confronting them and telling them to beat, these days though I do as alot of the wee f@nnies wouldn't think twice about sticking a blade in ye, espeically when they're fired up on the buckie and the white powder.
Carry a knife should get you national service.
When I was younger we used to associate it with being a Glasgow thing. It's crept into Edinburgh and is one of many reasons I can't be arsed with this place anymore. If I had the financial means I'd be out of here tonight.
TBH I find that all the dafties around here are on Es, MDMA or vallies. The coke is usually too expensive for all the wee *****, unless they're selling it that is.
Coke is becoming a major problem in Edinburgh, certainly over the last 2 years the place has exploded with it. What I've noticed that is worrying is that people are starting to get licked and stabbed for £50/£100 debts.
If the attackers never got disturbed, they may very well have continued until they killed her. Jail them, regardless of age. Completely sickening.
Hope the girl recovers.
och people get in fights at that age (no excusing it but it does happen), its the naked bit that i think is so utterly unhuman, heartless and wrong. jail em n get them on the sex offenders list.
lifes a bit harsh as was suggested earlier.
Hard to provide any solutions really. In reality, wherever they go whether it be jail, or young offenders institutes, they are probably going to meet other radges, and remain radges themselves with no interest whatsoever in rehabilitation.
It's easy for sensible people like ourselves to say "send them to jail" and think that they'll suddenly have a good look at themselves and turn over a new leaf. The sad fact is that these bams do not seem to care about their futures, or much of anything other than "battering wide c**ts", getting pished / high, and being the "hardest" person in their peer group. That basically seems to be it for these characters in life and I honestly don't know how things can change?
Anyone?
All the Do Gooder Lefties continually tell us that harsh punishment doesn't work, well, we will never know until we give it a try. One thing that is for sure is that the Left Wing approach to crime doesn't work. Social workers, human rights, civil liberties, legal aid, background reports, early release, open prisons etc etc....It doesn't work! The burgeoning Underclass and the crime that they bring will just get worse and worse until someone gets a hold of this! It's so typical of Britain that the victim always plays second fiddle to the perpetrator.
Execution, Boot Camps, National Service, Birching, stopping them breeding etc...I'd be right up for it all, but sadly we will never know if it works as we've signed up to all this European Communism that restricts us from punishing accordingly. The Scottish Parliament have a £60 million purse set aside to pay prisoners who had to slop out, and the current administration are hellbent on this early release programme which has been proven to put law abiding citizens at risk. No wonder they are pressing to get prisoners a vote. They are the criminal's friend!
Lunatics act irrationally. However morally reprehensible it might be, there's nothing irrational about anyone wanting to beat seven shades out of such as the perpetrators of this crime.
And as for Blake Morrison ( who, you neglect to mention for the benefit of the rest of us, is a poet FFS, and no more qualified to comment than anyone else), I repeat, he is indulging in the classic liberal process of exoneration by understanding. Society is to blame. Capitalism, poverty, social exclusion:blah: This was a calculated act of malice, originated by the individuals concerned.
How do I know they were aware of the potential consequences of their actions? What a stupid question! They didn't know that repeatedly kicking someone in the head might kill them?? They didn't think that stripping, sexually degrading and seriously assaulting someone might traumatise them mentally? Every human action is the result of a choice, the consequences of which are the responsibility of the individual. At every stage in the squalid and inhuman treatment of this young girl, these people had the choice of not doing what they did.
Yes, they should be named, if convicted. It's not society's job to protect the guilty. And that leads on to what the basis of a system of justice should be. Protect the innocent, punish the guilty. Simples. Judge the actions regardless of motivation. Some actions are inexcusable, yet we have a whole industry spanning several professions whose purpose is to excuse the guilty.
Agree with this up to a point, but it's ultimately a limited and thus facile analysis. We obviously have to do these things you suggest, but we also have to try and determine cause rather effect. If something is rotten at the heart of our society and is a root contributor to anti-social behaviour, we have to take steps to indentify and alter or eradicate that, otherwise we are just fighting fires and throwing more and more people in prison at the taxpayers expense.
In the 80's we restructured the economy, promoted the cult of individualism, created mass unemployment and low-status, part-time jobs. In doing so we also created a hopeless underclass who's only real chance of advancement was in the black economy, dealing drugs to their peers; people rendered miserable by no education, housing or employment opportunities. Now we are dealing with the children of this class of people. You can't rip the social fabric out of a nation and pretend that nothing has happened and that people are behaving badly or carrying knifes or getting wasted on drugs because there's something in the water.
As far I'm concerned, the youths who perpetrated this attack are probably way beyond redemption and rehabilitation. I don't care what punishment they recieve, I just don't want them walking the streets. What concerns me is that many parts of our city, many homes and many families have been written off by us a society, and the children they spawn are basically being bred for this behaviour. We've set up these anti-social behaviour factories, and we can devise all the grotesque punishments we like, it won't deter anyone who is so alienated and emotionally brutalised that they feel they have nothing to lose.
You're correct in that we're just fighting fires if we don't get to the root cause. The people who are committing these crimes now should be put away, you've outlines reasons for this behaviour and IMHO there is no way to change or rehabilitate these people.
In relation to all your points regarding the class created and the associated problems, there's no easy way to reverse that, that's even if there is a way which I very much doubt. We can plug away at it but these people should be locked up for a long time.
'Left-wing approach to crime', 'European Communism' - do you actually believe this yourself?
And yeah, this quasi-fascistic (actually I'm not sure about the quasi-) response to crime has never been tried anywhere, ever - has it?
Eh? Of course it's irrational! It's completely pointless and useless act that would run counter to any logical analysis of the situation. It would purely be an expression of the understandable emotional response to the case.
Why would I mention it, why is it relevant? Where did I say he was more qualified to comment than anyone else? What are you talking about?
And I'll also repeat. If you wish to have no interest in attempting to understand why people (children, adults) act the way that they do, then that is entirely your choice...
But there are innumerable reasons that might (stressed) mean they have an impaired understanding of actions and their consequences (their position as children might be one of these). My point is that you have no idea.
You seem to have an incredible disinterest in what is actually achieved by any action or punisment meated out to them. Presuming that you can recognise the incredibly harmful things that could result from naming them, what is actually achieved?
I remember well this story when it came out a few months ago and was truly sickened by what took place. Unfortunately this is what is happening in the world today, ferrel kids running amock, high on drugs and alchohol doing what they please.
The young lad involved in the crime seems to be getting off rather lightly in my opinion. It sounds very much like he choreographed the whole thing and was the leader of the attack while making sure he didn't get his hands dirty.
To use a hugely exaggerated comparison, Charles Manson didn't do any of the killing the Manson family were guilty of, he just planned and encouraged it.
Yes, I agree. It seems to me that the dynamic between the two girls was highly disturbed, but this young lad was certainly the spark that encouraged them into violence. As is so often the case with women and violence, they seek a male figure of approval. I don't think your Manson analogy is that wide of the mark, though it obviously doesn't excuse the actions of those girls.
I don't have a clue as to whether or not the 'people' involved can or can't be rehabilitated. The empirical evidence either for or against this seems to differ depending on which set of statistics are deployed.
More to the point is the question of whether society should invest scarce resources to trying to rehabilitate someone who has committed such a henious crime when there are obviously other policy priorities.
I think we do have to plug away at it, or even attack it full on with major investment in family and personal education, housing and employment. Without doing this we basically might as well admit defeat and live in fear or turn our society into a fascist, militaristic police state, where we have no individual freedom to go about our business in the manner we choose. Either way, we end up spending money on this problem, better to do it in ways that guarantees our freedom as a society.
On the same matter, why no CCTV in this city centre car park? It seems to intrude everywhere else in our lives.
Don't know if you've heard this, but we had corporal punishment and hard labour in this country, and it didn't work. The criminals still committed crimes. The wicked and perverted - which these kids are - still existed.
On the broader subject of the breakdown of society, I hate to be a do gooder lefty, but I beleive that if you give people a sense of purpose and dignity through providing them with hope for the future, it will be a lot more effective than any punishment.
A generation or so ago, people had the prospect of a life's employment to look forward to. Now, nothing is guaranteed, so is it any wonder that people have no respect for themselves or others.
The right wing alternative seems to be - thrash them till they comply. The problem is that once you've battered people a few times it really doesn't persuade them to change.
and the very same wicked and perverted actually targeted the jobs were they could act out their perversions with the backing of the law in the roles CG's is suggesting we recreate. as an aside, this is a difference between liberal and illiberal rather than left and right. you'll find the Soviet Union was not exactly soft on the likes of this kid.
this incident itself is totally shocking and that's why everyone has posted on this thread - that its so shocking imo reflects the fact that incidents of wicked perversion such as this are rare.
Blaming the Soviet Union for the failure of socialism is like blaming Jesus for the Spanish Inquisition.
I think you are right, I prefer to think that things like this are very rare. Like tornados, and floods, they are freaks of nature that we cannot do anything about.
My previous point was really a reply to the suggestion that harder punishments will solve everything.
This is what I was talking about in an earlier post.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...re/8233822.stm
That really wouldn't surprise me. :bitchy:
I honestly couldn't care less what age they are. If you are capable of committing a crime like that, I believe that you should be locked up for a very long time.
My thoughts are solely with the young girl who had to endure this horrific attack. The fact that the people who committed this offence are juveniles is of absolutely no relevance to me and I do not believe that it should be taken into consideration when passing sentence on them.
At 13 and 14, you are perfectly aware of the difference between right and wrong and they knew what they were doing to that girl was wrong but they did it anyway.
They should all be handed lengthy prison sentences for this crime but borders.cabbage might not actually be too far away in his assessment that these three may just be offered counselling sessions with a youth worker, a couple of years in a YOI and then countless trips to Hampden, M&D's etc. when they get out, to try and bribe them into behaving.
It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if that ended up being the case.
Noble thoughts.
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, there also has to be a deterrent.
If there were no unpleasnt consequences for committing heinous crimes but only the prospect of several years in a soft-touch rehabilitation programme, people would go out and do whatever they pleased. And inevitably the innocent and weaker in society would suffer.
(And another thought. Was there really the same degree of perversion in crime 70 or 80 years ago or before? If there was, why did Brady and Hindley cause so much of an outcry with their appalling crime in the 1960s?)
... as they should. Apart from the deterrent and punishment aspect of our system, there must also be a rehabilitation element as well. Whether or not it's "the parents fault" or they're just evil, kids of that age must be given every chance to mend themselves. It's part of what we are as a society.
Falkirk, on many other threads you have been the great defender of the Christian faith however none of this seems to be evident in your vitriolic condemnation of this crime.
Do you not agree with the New Testament and the concepts of forgiveness and 'turn the other cheek'? If you do, it is not clear in your posts.
Personally, I think that the perpetrators deserve serious punishment however you seem to believe that thy should be allowed no quarter. How does this reconcile with Christian beliefs?
Perhaps there should be a different type of sentencing.
There's a common theme here rounded up by the term ‘feral kids’ which I think describes them perfectly. Society has lost more than one generation. How these feral families are brought back in to society before crimes like this are committed I’m not sure.
But given these families have had no positive guidance from role models perhaps we will have to consider educating them so that the errors/negligence of their upbringing is addressed. Sounds a bit George Orwellian!
What we do know is that they will inevitably engage with the criminal justice system. Maybe they should be locked up / removed from society [for a minimum period depending on the crime and] until they appreciate what their role within society should be i.e. they get 3 years but if they don’t understand and engage with the concept of living ‘normally’ within society they stay locked up until they do!
Maybe these social workers etc. who seemingly work so hard to keep these criminals out of jail and keep them on the straight and narrow on the outside should work with these criminals in jail.
A lot of people seem to think that being a Christian=being soft on people who commit crime.
I believe that it is only the people who are the victims of crime who are in a position to forgive. If I was ever the victim of crime, as a Christian, I would have to try very hard to find it in my heart to forgive the person who committed the crime against me.
However, I also believe that if you commit a crime, you have to face the consequences of your actions. That means that if the crime is serious enough then the punishment should be a lengthy custodial sentence.
"Turning the other cheek" also has many interpretations. I would personally take it to mean that you shouldn't fight violence with violence. I don't believe that it means that people who commit serious crimes shouldn't be put in prison.
These three people knew what they were doing and have probably scarred that young girl for life, in an unimaginable way. They should be locked up for a very long time.
I always thought the opposite actually. Certainly when you look at the right wing in the US anyway. Despite bleating on about forgiveness and quoting the bible as though it's perfectly normal to do so in a secular society, I find revenge to be their main motivator. As seems to be the case with Falkirk.
With the second point I highlighted, would you say that we can only forgive as individuals or would we not all be better off if we could forgive as a society?
To mix the Biblical metaphors, that's a very Pontius Pilate response. As the poster before put it, society also has that power.
Would you not also accept, as a Christian, that redemption has to play its part too? The perpetrators, especially given their age (and, although not using it as an excuse, probably a pretty awful life already), should be given a chance to redeem themselves. And I do mean that AFTER they have been punished.
I think human nature is at the heart of the dilemma. I beleive that the majority of people don't need the deterrent, because it is against our nature to inflict such cruelty. Those who have it in their nature won't be deterred.
I beleive that cruellty has always been something that is there in some people, so I would think there would be plenty crimes like this 70 or 80 years ago - think of Jack the Ripper, for example.
Sorry mate, I don't want you to think this is part of a witch hunt - I respect your right to your opinions, even if I don't agree with them all. I honestly thought the core principle of christianity was about forgiveness. I can't see how some of the stuff some fundamentalists come out with (again, not getting at you) squares with what Jesus said.
I believe that it is up to the person who has been wronged to decide if they feel able to forgive. I don't think that anyone else is in a position to forgive, apart from the relatives of someone who has been murdered, perhaps.
Of course, redemption is a huge part of Christianity.
I have seen countless TV shows that have featured people who have been involved in serious crime, have spent time in prison and then they have become Christians and have chosen to do something good with their life and have spoken out against knife crime, gun crime or whatever it was they were involved in previously.
It is possible for some people to change but not everyone wants to.
I would be inclined to say that I would be happy to see all criminals released as soon as they show genuine remorse for their crimes but I think it's far too easy for someone to say "Oh yes, I'm really sorry for what I've done and it will never happen again", if they know that kind of comment will probably get them released.
I wasn't really saying anything about forgiveness, though as I think it's up to individual people to decide if they want to forgive. If someone was to commit a crime against me, I would need to try hard to forgive that person as that is what Christians should do. What I am saying is, I think everyone who commits a crime, should be punished and if the crime's serious enough then that person should receive a lengthy custodial sentence.
Maybe that isn't what Jesus would say and therefore maybe that makes me a bad Christian. I'll let others judge that for themselves. I can only ever say what I genuinely believe in, on every single issue.
So you would have no punishment in society for heinous crimes as it would derive no ultimate benefit.
Would the same rule apply then to 'lesser' crimes such as car theft or mugging? * Would you believe that human nature is suffciently self-regulating to ensure that in a sudden absence of judicial penalties there would be no upsurge in petty crimes, for example, for the purpose of material gain?
If so, you have far more faith in human nature than I have.
(* After all, it would be a pretty strange legal system if the more serious crimes committed resulted in rehabilitation whilst incarceration awaited the perpetrators of lesser crimes.)
So why did British society at the time find itself so revulsed by the Brady / Hindley crime - and continued to do so decades later? Perhaps instances of the prolonged physical torture of young children have been far less common in history?
I think a punsihment should be used as a deterrent. If it doesn't deter people what is the point?
I would wager that every generation has had its Brady and Hindley. You just have to read the likes of the Illustrated London News from the 19th century, or old copies of the News of the World, to realise that perversion has always been there.
Furthermore, Brady and Hindley were caught, but they were hardly the first people to abduct and torture children. Paedophile rings have been doing it for centuries.
What?
You don't think that keeping innocent people safe from being stabbed, mugged, murdered etc is a good enough reason. That should be the main priority of any civilised society. The place would turn into bandit country.
If there was no crime I could comfortably tell you that right now I'd be away to the nearest Dixon's to pick myself up a new 50" TV and a PS3 to play it. Even, better, I'd be telling the delivery driver he's bringing me home.
Community service / prison is enough of a deterrent for me not to do that. However, there will always be people who just don't give a **** and they should be locked up.
No wonder this country is in a complete mess when there are people with views like that. Please, please, please never become a politician.
Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, used only by fools and idiots, er.....
No, I was serious. It was a good point that Woody made, and he raised something I didn't take the time to consider. That's what's good about debate and discussion, you can test your ideas against other people's and if they point out something you hadn't thought of then youhae learned something.
The alternative is to be entrenched in your views, and argue the same point in the face of evidence that suggests reasonable alternatives. I know I can be arrogant, but I'd like to think I am decent enough to acknowledge a good point.
Oh the poor wee sowel!
There are times when I think that defence lawyers are bigger criminals than the people they represent.
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/east-cen...-refused-bail/
:LOL:
I was in a chilled out mood when writing that. All I could think of was just taking it easy with a beer and COD4 (war game based on American's Vs the East. The irony being that killing innocent people is legal when it's called war!).
Plus, I wasn't in the murdering type mood at that time although I might consider it when FR gets into power :greengrin
Seemingly beaten up a young offenders secure unit............
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/la...ked.5629996.jp
13+14 yo girls in stilettos:confused: deary me, still at least the boy getting a doing proves the age old adage if your a con then beasts will get done no matter what age cos surely if he's happy to do this at 13 then thank fek he's off the streets before he grows older + stronger + possibly more sadistic