Demonstrations, Riots and Disorder Across the UK Following the Southport Attacks

[Baron99]

1 hour ago, pfifes said:

This is genuine question so please don’t jump on me 🙂

This guy has been jailed for 20 months for ‘shouting at a police dog and using racist slurs’.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2nm5jgxlko
 Now I agree he’s a horrible person, racism is inexcusable and he has previous convictions.  I’m not necessarily saying that sentence is too harsh but given that I’m often astonished by the leniency of sentences for serious crimes I’m surprised by the length of this sentence.  A random example is this case of a policewoman who was deliberately knocked down by a car and then driven over.  The person responsible was given a two-week prison sentence suspended for 18 months, a drug rehabilitation order and was disqualified from driving.  

https://policeprofessional.com/news/injured-officer-appalled-at-lenient-sentence-given-to-woman-who-drove-over-her/
 

Well you & others will be able to judge for yourselves if we suddenly have a two-tier sentencing system all of a sudden?

 

I can't find the story from the recent riots but no doubt it will surface as someone has been arrested for arson by setting fire to a bus & there are other being charged similarly for torching police vans, so let's see what sentences they receive? 

 

Then we'll be able to compare their sentences with that of the man who has pleaded guilty to a charge of arson in the Harehills riot in Leeds when authorities were trying to take vulnerable children into care. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5rkxdxdrwo

 

Let's see if sentences are comparable? 

[pfifes]

7 hours ago, peak4 said:

If you follow that BristolLive link, there is a bit of explanation about how the judge decided on the sentence imposed.
I did have a brief look at the other link you showed, but couldn't immediately find the judges sentencing remarks for Dakota Henton, the driver.
I'm not sure which ones get published and which don't, there might be something on Bailii; I'm guessing since it was a drug issue, as well as having kids taken into care,  so the judge decided that treatment may be better offered outside prison, but it was a suspended sentence, so can be recalled to court if she defaults on the drug rehab program.

I’ve looked at the Bristol live link and can see there’s more to it than the BBC headline suggested.  However, as I said in my original post I wasn’t so much saying this was too harsh, more that too often I feel sentences for other serious crimes are too lenient.  Much is made by the  judge sentencing McCarthy on the effect of his actions on others (inciting violence). In the case of Dakota Henton running over a policewoman, it seems to me that her drug problems and childcare are given more importance than the injuries inflicted on a police officer-who is very unhappy about the leniency of the sentence.  And with a mother like Henton I can’t help wondering if the children would be better off in care. 

[Al Bundy]

The large prison sentences are definitely being used as a deterrent and I fully agree with them, as long as other folk from other riots and disturbances get the same. 

[pfifes]

11 minutes ago, Al Bundy said:

The large prison sentences are definitely being used as a deterrent and I fully agree with them, as long as other folk from other riots and disturbances get the same. 

I agree, it feels like ‘where’s there a will there’s a way’.  The rioters are being dealt with quickly and harshly which is good.  But we really should do the same across the board.  

[El Cid]

On 1 September 2011 after the riots  the BBC reported that official Ministry of Justice figures showed that of the 1,566 people that had appeared before magistrates on charges connected with the disorder, 1,027 had been in London, 190 in Greater Manchester, 132 in the West Midlands, 67 in Merseyside and 64 in Nottingham.

Sentences of four years in a Young Offender Institution were given to two males who promoted riots via Facebook. The proposed events in Northwich and Warrington were not attended by any other people. These sentences were affirmed on appeal by the Court of Appeal. Giving the judgment of the court, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Judge, sitting with Sir John Thomas and Lord Justice Leveson, stated that there is "an overwhelming obligation on sentencing courts to do what they can to ensure the protection of the public", that "the imposition of severe sentences, intended to provide both punishment and deterrence, must follow" and that "[t]hose who deliberately participate in disturbances of this magnitude, causing injury and damage and fear to even the most stout-hearted of citizens, and who individually commit further crimes during the course of the riots are committing aggravated crimes". The appeals were dismissed.

On 25 April 2012, the Court of Appeal (Lord Judge CJ, Openshaw & Irwin JJ) increased the sentence imposed by the Inner London Crown Court on Adam Ahmadzai from four years detention to seven years detention for offences of violent disorder, robbery, burglary and criminal damage committed during the riots on 8 August 2011, following a reference from Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC. The Lord Chief Justice stated that the offences were of the "greatest possible seriousness".

A woman who had not taken part in the riots received five months for receiving a pair of stolen shorts. The sentence was later reduced on appeal.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_England_riots

[peak4]

Subsequent to the 2011 riots, the sentencing council reviewed the guidelines for all public order offences to ensure consistency with the various charges accross the country.

About the Sentencing Council

The Sentencing Council is an independent, non-departmental public body.

We are part of the Ministry of Justice family of arm’s-length bodies.
From what I can make out, courts stick fairly rigidly to those guidelines, barring exceptional circumstances, to lessen chances of sentence appeal post conviction; appeals can be both too lenient, or too severe of course.

New sentencing guidelines for public order offences published   Sentencing Council

A comprehensive package of guidelines to be used by all courts in England and Wales when sentencing offenders convicted of public order offences, ranging from low level disorderly behaviour to widespread public disorder, has been published today by the independent Sentencing Council, following consultation.

The new guidelines, which come into effect on 1 January 2020, provide sentencing guidance for existing offences under the Public Order Act 1986.

For the first time, all courts will have a clear framework to help ensure a consistent approach is taken to sentencing these offences. The guidelines will apply to offenders aged 18 years or over.  They have been development in accordance with the Council’s usual procedures which include a public consultation and an analysis of current sentencing practice.

[Mister M]

Staff at the now notorious hotel which housed asylum seekers in Rotherham which was surrounded and infiltrated by rioters were evacuated several hours before leaving asylum seekers to put out the fires themselves:

Urgent protections needed for asylum seekers in hotels, say refugee groups | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian

[lavery549@yahoo]

Am surprised nobody has mentioned the protest the other day outside Houses of Parliament . My brother showed me a vid , that was by Sky News . Nothing I could find myself . 

[peak4]

Another report, containing lots of links, which may be of interest; Hyphen Online, which I'd never heard of before; several familiar names in there again.

Inside the far-right disinformation networks that fuelled the UK riots
Unchecked social media platforms provide the perfect environment for Islamophobic anti-immigrant groups to organise and recruit
Darren Loucaides–21 August 2024

 

 

[ECCOnoob]

48 minutes ago, Mister M said:

NON ESSENTIAL staff at the now notorious hotel which housed asylum seekers in Rotherham which was surrounded and infiltrated by rioters were evacuated several hours before leaving asylum seekers to put out the fires themselves:

Urgent protections needed for asylum seekers in hotels, say refugee groups | Immigration and asylum | The Guardian

 

Corrected that for you. 

 

Very sensible.  Why the hell would any organisation put their employees at unnecessary risk unless absolutely needed.

Edited August 26 by ECCOnoob