Sentencing options - you decide.

anglolawyer said:
There should be a prison sentence for stealing eggs from rare or endangered species. I really wonder about our political system when it has no time to pass such a sensible law but plenty of space for constant, populist fiddling with the criminal justice system and erosion of basic rights.
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I disagree primarily as it does not pass my tests for locking people up, violence and/or continual re-offending.

I also like creative punishments, so I would have the two of them doing community service at the nature reserve nearest them. Plus a fine of say £500 and a ban from going to the Orkneys or to any nature reserve other than once approved for community service.
 
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Nessie said:
I disagree primarily as it does not pass my tests for locking people up, violence and/or continual re-offending.

I also like creative punishments, so I would have the two of them doing community service at the nature reserve nearest them. Plus a fine of say £500 and a ban from going to the Orkneys or to any nature reserve other than once approved for community service.
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On reflection, I like creative punishments too. In practice, adminstering them is probably not straightforward. The trouble with having everyone doing community service, apart from getting the feckless buggers to show up and put a proper shift in, is you wind up taking jobs away from law-abiding folk.

In America thousands of rock-breakers are unemployed for this very reason (ever wondered what they do with the broken rocks? me neither).
 
One of my favourites, it maybe a myth though, was kids who let down some bus tyres were given foot pumps and told to re-inflate them. I am sure that was in Sweden where even thought their justice system is 'lenient' they have low rates of re-offending.
 
anglolawyer said:
In America thousands of rock-breakers are unemployed for this very reason (ever wondered what they do with the broken rocks? me neither).
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Probably used as hard core in construction. It may be apocryphal, but I remember hearing about prisoners being forced to break up concrete blocks, the rubble was then mixed with fresh concrete and recast to be broken up again...

The Victorians were the Kings (or Queens) of pointless punishments though with gems like the treadmill and crank or unpicking and then remaking lengths of rope.
 
I guess this works better if I post without reading too many comments?

Case A - For me it depends on the victims, and on the defendants' ability to repay. If ordinary people lost their homes as a result of this, giving back the money doesn't undo the damage. I would want such a person to serve, maybe, 10 or 20 years. But if the victim was a bank (actually the bank's insurance company, I suppose), and if the defendants have the 750 million (plus interest), and can simply make it right by paying it back, then I would be satisfied with, let's say, 5 years in prison, full restitution, plus a fine (maybe twice the damages, so 1.5 billion?). If they used their status as professionals (realtors, bankers, attorneys, etc.) to facilitate the fraud, then I would hope for a long-term or permanent ban from that profession.

Case B - I don't know what the crime is here, other than contempt for not showing up and taunting the court. Criminal trespass? Some sort of nuisance? And this is his first conviction? For the car, it's 100 bucks plus the cost of removing the car, and 30 days in jail, suspended. For the contempt, it's 3 days in jail.

Case C - Here I would have thought the crime would be perjury, fraud, malicious prosecution, or something. But it's contempt? I may be confused because I'm not familiar with UK law. For what they did, they deserve prison time, maybe 5 to 8 years. But call it "contempt," and I'm thinking, they get 30 days, tops.
 
See post 45 for the answers

linusrichard said:
I guess this works better if I post without reading too many comments?

Case A - For me it depends on the victims, and on the defendants' ability to repay. If ordinary people lost their homes as a result of this, giving back the money doesn't undo the damage. I would want such a person to serve, maybe, 10 or 20 years. But if the victim was a bank (actually the bank's insurance company, I suppose), and if the defendants have the 750 million (plus interest), and can simply make it right by paying it back, then I would be satisfied with, let's say, 5 years in prison, full restitution, plus a fine (maybe twice the damages, so 1.5 billion?). If they used their status as professionals (realtors, bankers, attorneys, etc.) to facilitate the fraud, then I would hope for a long-term or permanent ban from that profession.

Case B - I don't know what the crime is here, other than contempt for not showing up and taunting the court. Criminal trespass? Some sort of nuisance? And this is his first conviction? For the car, it's 100 bucks plus the cost of removing the car, and 30 days in jail, suspended. For the contempt, it's 3 days in jail.

Case C - Here I would have thought the crime would be perjury, fraud, malicious prosecution, or something. But it's contempt? I may be confused because I'm not familiar with UK law. For what they did, they deserve prison time, maybe 5 to 8 years. But call it "contempt," and I'm thinking, they get 30 days, tops.
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Close to being correct on A, too lenient on B (not in my opinion, but in the court's) very accurate on C, for which I would have handed out more jail time than the judge.
 
Chris Huhne and Vicky Price

This is a variant of the game because these two extremely dangerous criminal types have not actually been tried yet. The case starts on Monday and, luckily, it's in England, not the US, so it won't take three weeks. On the other hand, it won't be on TV :mad: So, you have to guess the result and the sentence (if applicable).

The brief facts

Mr Huhne is a senior politician in the coalition government and Vicky Price is his ex wife. The allegation is he was clocked speeding and, rather than face a likely driving ban, he persuaded her to take the rap, which she did. This was before they split up.

He subsequently left her for another woman and she took revenge by disclosing this episode in a newspaper interview. A political opponent reported them to the police and they now face charges of perverting the course of justice.

They both deny the charges but her denial is based on something called 'marital coercion' of which your correspondent had never heard before this case. 'He made me do it' sums it up I guess. I have no idea what his defence could possibly be. Maybe he will be saying she really was the driver and was lying to take revenge on him.

They are both very successful people. She is a well known economist. So take a shot at: guilty or not guilty and then sentence (if guilty). Google is of course allowed.
 
Fine, I'll play by myself.

Both will be found guilty. He will be sentenced to 18 months in prison, she will get 12 months, suspended for two years.
 
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