17 years for a life
Drunken teenagers who kicked a father to death are jailed for lifereads the headline.
But then, as we all know, life doesn't mean anything of the sort:
He [the judge] said that Swellings, the gang’s ringleader known as “Swellhead”, of Crewe, would be jailed for a minimum of 17 years. Sorton, of Warrington, and Cunliffe, formerly of Warrington, will have to serve at least 15 and 12 years respectively before being considered for parole.So the leader will, if he behaves himself, be out by the time he is 36. In my book, that's getting away with murder.
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dsquared
February 12th, 2008 10:55amDon't be silly, Steven. 17 years is almost exactly the length of your jourrnalistic career; in 1991 you weren't even director of research at the Fabian Society yet. It's a very long sentence.
Jennie
February 12th, 2008 11:22amParole for Swellings after 17 years won't be automatic (though he'll probably get it). However, he'll then be on parole for the rest of his life: any breach and he'll be straight back inside (that's the theory, anyway).
Corsair
February 12th, 2008 12:53pmIt's stories like this that finally brought me round to supporting the death penalty.
Joshua
February 12th, 2008 6:33pmI wouldn't get too upset about it. After all, virtually all of the many war criminals, Nazis and others, who were welcomed into the UK with open arms after World War II got off scot free. Of course, they had only engaged in the mass-murder of Jews and Brits have never been concerned about that sort of thing. Indeed, I get the distinct impression that a large number actually welcome it.