I've already bigged up this book, available from Amazon at a bargain £11.87, in this post.
Now the Dalrymple review.
"All in all, Fraser’s book is a searing and unanswerable (or at least so far unanswered) indictment of the British criminal-justice system, and therefore of the British state. As Fraser pointed out to me, the failure of the state to protect the lives and property of its citizens, and to take seriously its duty in this regard, creates a politically dangerous situation, for it puts the very legitimacy of the state itself at risk. The potential consequences are incalculable, for the failure might bring the rule of law itself into disrepute and give an opportunity to the brutal and the authoritarian."
The point about the legitimacy of the state is an important one. Listening to a BBC (it could have been Radios 4 or 5, the politics will be the same) piece on a UK version of Megan's Law, the studio consensus was that it would lead to attacks on, and possibly the murder of, named offenders.
No-one seemed to have grasped the enormity of what they were saying. The implications of such a statement are either
a) the disconnection between the appropriate punishment as seen by judges and as seen by the public is so great that such attacks are likely. This should perhaps have caused some soul-searching as to whether the current punishments are appropriate. After all, one of the unique selling points of a functional criminal justice system is that, by inflicting punishments which are generally felt to be appropriate, vendetta and vigilantism are avoided.
If this thesis is accepted (and it seemed to be by the studio guests), the logical thing would seem to be to increase the punishments. But we're much too sophisticated for such simplicities. No, the real villains are the tabloid press, whipping the clod-like populace into homicidal frenzies in the style of Radio Rwanda.
b) the posited vigilante attacks would be the work of a miniscule minority of sick people, with no public support. And law and order in 2006 is such that this tiny, unsupported minority will be able to successfully carry out those attacks.
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10 comments:
dont know if you are aware of the Jason Swift case , from years ago.
one of the murderers was out on parole, and was shot dead.
the police never followed it up, or bothered investigating.
which does say a lot about the disconnect between sentences being handed down and what most sane people judge to be a fair and just sentence (i.e. life sentences should mean just that - life)
Sidney Cooke
paedo murderer. imprisoned 1984. paroled 1998.
Did you hear former Judge John Samuels on R4 at lunchtime ? The arrogant complacency of the Barrister oozed from the judicial throne blaming perecptions of the hoi-polloi who could not understand the divinity of the judge
If you want books - I recommend Christopher Lasch (Amazon.com) - Revolt Of The Elites and The Culture of Narcissism
When you beieve that The State will not deliver on its side of the "social contract", what are you to do?
Jason Swift case - Ive had a look into that. The guy (nonce) who was killed, the police did investigate but strangely no members of the public felt like coming forward with any information. Another member of the gang was killed in prison.
Sidney Cooke is alive, well, and was staying in a police safe house in Bristol last time I looked.
Another of the killers, Lenny Smith, has just died of AIDS.
http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/content/hackney/gazette/news/story.aspx?brand=HKYGOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshkyg&itemid=WeED07%20Jul%202006%2011%3A33%3A01%3A077
jason swift wasn't a rent boy, thats just what he old tpolice to try to make it look better for him, the media beived itcos it made good story. me and a freind were nearly abducted by them in petticoat lane a few years before, they were just preditory, god knows how long jason was in that flat before they killed him. there were weeks unaccounted for. we flipped the stinking old bastard over a wall before running off but the younger one was in a phone box right by him and came out laughing as we ran off so he was waiting for whoever sidney cooke managed to get hold of.
where is sidney cooke now? is he dead, is he out, anyone got any info?
He was jailed in December 1999 for a series of sexual offences he committed between 1972 and 1981. He was told that he would have to serve a minimum of five years in prison before he would be considered for release. Evidently he hasn't applied for parole or even at his age, hasn't convinced a parole panel that he is fit for release. Cooke is still in prison and it is very unlikely that he will be released now.
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