On this Blog, I have tried to reveal many of the hidden secrets of the ponderous and ineffective justice machine in this country.
One of the out and out scandals is the reluctance to jail people for 'Theft in breach of trust'.
When I began on The Bench, this was considered to be worthy of certain custody in almost all of cases and rightly so.
By the time I left, the guidelines had changed to make it 'Entry point, community penalty' thus vastly reducing the numbers jailed for this heinous offence.
We now take appalling behaviour in our stride. As a society we hardly blink at such serious matters.
Crime will never drop until it is punished. Quite apart from anything else such as rehabilitation and deterrence, there is a moral imperative to punish.
It is manifestly wrong - indeed, profoundly immoral - to give a weak and unbalanced punishment for any offence.
What message do you send to would-be offenders? What message do you send to those who DO obey the rules of society?
And no. We are emphatically NOT talking about revenge but rather justice and righteousness.
There is no vindication in any society which allows its citizenry to damage others knowing that offending is so under punished as to be worthwhile.
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