Crime and criminals

[Fester]

What will it take to steer them back onto the 'straight & narrow'?

Bring back the BIRCH and let them be humiliated with a Public beating.   

I would like to volunteer to administer said thrashing!

[Merddin Emrys]

But the horse has done nothing wrong! You want this....  

[Ian]

This makes for interesting reading....

[Fester]

This makes for interesting reading....

A touching and poignant article.
Prison may not be the answer, hospital may not be the answer.... but central to any solution must be the safety of innocent people first and foremost.
As soon as any pathological symptoms such as these become evident, they must be kept away from mainstream society.... at ANY cost.

[DaveR]

central to any solution must be the safety of innocent people first and foremost.
As soon as any pathological symptoms such as these become evident, they must be kept away from mainstream society.... at ANY cost.

Agreed.

[Ian]

As soon as any pathological symptoms such as these become evident, they must be kept away from mainstream society.... at ANY cost.

Which is fine, just so long as the criminal justice system never makes any mistakes.  And that seems rather far off.

[Michael]

   I've just read the last dozen or so posts. I'm not taking any sides because Ive been on both sides myself at one time or another. However, a few years ago I had to appear in Colwyn Bay court. Rather than wait my turn outside I went into the cour. t and listening to the proceedings. Obviously I saw the defendants and the legal people in the Court.
  So, it came to the lunch break. Now what am I going to do for the next hour?
  I wandered across the road and into the drinking area of the Royal.  I was soon joined with one, two, three at least defendants. Although their cases were separate, they all knew each other.
   But, they got a bit loud, and the next minute I heard a strong superior voice coming out of the "eating" area. That area was full of lawyers all clutching gin and tonics.     True    No comment   Mike

[Hugo]

That reminded me of this joke Mike, the scum are out there and come  in different guises :-
   
Trust a fellow officer?
A defense attorney was cross-examining a police officer during a felony trial -- it went like this:

Q: Officer, did you see my client fleeing the scene?

A: No sir, but I subsequently observed a person matching the description of the offender running several blocks away.

Q: Officer, who provided this description?

A: The officer who responded to the scene.

Q: A fellow officer provided the description of this so-called offender. Do you trust your fellow officers?

A: Yes sir, with my life.

Q: With your life? Let me ask you this then officer, do you have a locker room in the police station, a room where you change your clothes in preparation for your daily duties?

A: Yes sir, we do.

Q: And do you have a locker in that room?

A: Yes sir, I do.

Q: And do you have a lock on your locker?

A: Yes sir.

Q: Now why is it, officer, if you trust your fellow officers with your life, that you find it necessary to lock your locker in a room you share with those officers?

A: You see sir, we share the building with a court complex, and sometimes defence attorneys have been known to walk through that room.

[Tosh]

I did jury service in 2010 at Caernarfon for two weeks.
At lunchtime you can either sit next to the defendant in the court cafe or stand next to him or her at the chippy up the road.
Afterwards you can sit on the wall outside while they and their families sit there and smoke their roll ups.
The silly things about this are the fact that the court is only a few years old and there are no seperate facilities and once the defendant is back in the court he or she is sitting inside a bullet proof room so that he or she cannot attack you, duh.
The two cases I sat on were both local defendants from the Bay and Abergele, I have seen the Bay one several times over the past 2 years.
 

[Fester]

I did jury service in Bradford about 5 years ago.
I was the foreman of the jury for the full two weeks, on about 6 different cases.

On the last day, I had to stand up and announce the guilty verdict on a six-foot seven monster of a man, who reacted by threatening to kill me as he was led away.

I was shaken a little, but reassured by the judge who said that this happened all the time, and I needn't worry.

2 hours later, I left the court building and was promptly grabbed by the monstrous convicted man, who had just been RELEASED by that same judge, to be sentenced later.
He slammed me against a wall, stuck his forehead in my face and said that ''if he missed the birth of his next kid whilst in prison, he would kill me''
2 police officers nearby looked conveniently away from the furore, which was only broken up by other jurors and members of the attackers own family.
So, beware anyone who thinks that such proceedings are conducted in a safe and professional manner!

[Ian]

He slammed me against a wall, stuck his forehead in my face and said that ''if he missed the birth of his next kid whilst in prison, he would kill me''

So what happened?  Did he kill you?   

On a more serious note it's always surprised me that they don't separate defendants and witnesses more effectively.

[Yorkie]

I did jury service in Bradford about 5 years ago.

Of course, once one gets to a certain age, one is exempt from Jury Service!    ZXZ

[Michael]

   Can I break forum rules and write a post addressed in particular to another member? Well, here goes.

   Fester ---- I have seen a few films around jury rooms. I always understood that they agreed amongst themselves who the foreman should be. They normally pick a dominant personality,  not afraid to lead the way and express his own opinions without fear.
    But --- you?  Foreman for two weeks?  We all know you as being a rather shy person, one who sits in the corner peacefully listening but has to be forced to give an opinion.  Never, ever dominating anything or anyone. How on earth did they pick you?
            Lots of love    Mike

[DaveR]

We all know you as being a rather shy person, one who sits in the corner peacefully listening but has to be forced to give an opinion.

[Fester]

He slammed me against a wall, stuck his forehead in my face and said that ''if he missed the birth of his next kid whilst in prison, he would kill me''

So what happened?  Did he kill you?   

On a more serious note it's always surprised me that they don't separate defendants and witnesses more effectively.

Well, about a year later, I was in a pub (called The City Vaults) with work colleagues when he came in!
I saw him from about 20 yards away, and immediately averted my gaze.  Z@@

But, too late... he made his way over, put his hands on me and said, 'how you doing fella, I know you from somewhere''

I acknowledged him, but he became more insistent.. ''where do I know you from?'' he pressed.... ''I'm sure you used to work with me or something''

'Could be', I replied.... edging away.

''Well, I'll place you in a while, never forget a face me... we have some unfinished business I reckon, I'll come back over when I do'' 

I disappeared back into the huddle of my work colleagues, explained what had transpired... and was spirited away.

For some reason, I never found myself in The City Vaults again.