I wonder if you would mind having a look at justice through a different perspective? To do this I will have to introduce two unpleasant examples of humanity so brace yourselves.
Law perhaps but not justice
First and by all means least we have Mr Clinton Barnes 34 from Tyne and Wear. This lively fellow likes nothing more than a spot of capering around, especially when he is drunk which according to all sources is almost always. Barnes was just passing a house fire with the fire service in attendance, you know, busy trying to save lives. He wanted to sample the insides of the engine and a smaller response vehicle.
When the beastly fire people asked him to leave he took umbrage. He managed to break one fire fighter's nose and punched and head-butted others. Was he jailed for these actions? No of course not, Suspended Sentence and a fine that will probably never be paid. He is an alcoholic his legal counsel informed the court, with mental health issues. I bet that soothed the families of the injured heroes.
People could have been killed for all this imbecile knew or cared. The fire fighters were searching the house believing people could have been trapped. Leaving that aside, three people who went out to do a dangerous job were left injured, one with a broken nose, without the least need. Those people could have been your family and they were serving us all.
And as we all know Mr Barnes is just one of the many hundreds of people who appear on shows like Caught on Camera, or Police Interceptors, or 999 What's Your Emergency? They cause chaos and harm, cost millions of pounds of emergency services money and at the end get a warning or a suspended sentence.
The next loathsome character
Now comes the second and more loathsome character. Nadeem Muhammed 43, smuggled a pipe bomb onto a plane flying from Manchester to Italy. A Pakistani man with an Italian passport he had tried to do a similar thing on a previous occasion, been caught and released because the flawed view of security was that first bomb was not viable.
The judge said this was completely incorrect and at least one of the bombs contained nitro-glycerine and nitrocellulose. The authorities tell us he will be imprisoned for 18 years but this is deliberately misleading, an attempt to make us believe appropriate justice is being applied. The man will be in prison for between 9 and 18 years and in these type of cases, the full term is rarely served.
Remember what this wretch tried to do. If a plane blows up at 38 thousand feet it depressurises instantly. Many people can't survive to get the oxygen mask on. Those who can have a terrifying few minutes of plunging hell before catastrophic impact with something hard. Men, women, children. Hindu, Jew, Muslim.
All slaughtered because of this cur. So what happens? He's had two chances, he goes to prison for nine years, fumes and if he is a zealot as seems most likely, recruits more vicious idiots to his way of thinking. Then he gets out and has a chance to repeat his actions. And like Barnes we know that there are many more of this type in prison presently, awaiting release. The shoe bomber to name but one.
Do you really think it's right that we should supply about ten thousand meals to Muhammed and then let him go, hoping he no longer wants to murder us? Really? Well, that's democracy I suppose (although someone should mention to the Liberals, who are suddenly keen for more referendums, that the public has not been asked the question about the death penalty for such a long time).
A new system of justice. Introducing Lord Cable-Clegg
What about a new system, where the people choosing to liberate these lunatics have to take real responsibility for their decision? Let's make up a character to illustrate this idea; Lord Cable-Clegg. This worthy knows a thing or two about justice. Two things actually; 1) No one is ever responsible for anything they do and 2) Prison is not about punishment. Cable-Clegg has two children and a wife and has been responsible for a review where he freed two villains, similar to the ones spoken of above well before he had to. A short while later this scenario plays out:
"Lord Cable- Clegg, bad news sir. That yob you released early, he's just head-butted a young girl, broke her nose badly.
Sorry sir but we will have to take Kirsty, your youngest daughter to the hospital and break her nose with a hammer, dear, dear. Take hold of her bailiff."
"But hold on!" pleads Cable-Clegg.
"Can't, sorry sir, but that's not the worst of it. The other villain you let go has just gone berserk on a ferry. Killed three people with a razor sharp machete. Have to take you the Mrs and your oldest daughter to the walled court yard at the back and shoot the lot of you! Bailiff, take them in charge. Very sorry Lord Cable Clegg, accountability and all you know."
Only an illustration of course, and it would be far from perfect, no sane person would take responsibility for releasing anyone. But the fact is people in authority are releasing dangerous people when they should not be free.
Other people are suffering in just the way the fictional Cable Clegg's family suffered. There are costs, often catastrophic ones to absolving people from consequences. Leniency should be applied sparingly and not endanger the innocent and vulnerable. I don't know what you think but I believe if the scenario we have just looked at was in play, far fewer dangerous lunatics would be released back into society.
And that would be a great thing!