A senior magistrate has resigned in protest at Government policies that impose soft punishments and undermine the courts.Dr Dick Soper says criminals are walking free from prison after serving just a quarter of the sentences he and his colleagues impose.
Others are being handed fixed fines or police cautions - taking justice out of the hands of the courts and away from public scrutiny.
Dr Soper, 64, a GP, has served 26 years on the bench at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
He used his final session yesterday to deliver an angry broadside, saying: 'Although I could serve for another five years I no longer feel my time is being usefully spent in court.
'I feel that this long-standing system which has served the public well for centuries has, in recent years, been more and more interfered with by politicians.'
He told how he recently jailed an offender for six months but saw him walking about the town just six weeks later.
Dr Soper said: 'My greatest frustration and that of my colleagues is the very early release of prisoners.'
He said virtually all offenders are released automatically halfway through their sentences, while emergency measures to tackle prison overcrowding means many have another 18 days knocked off their sentences. Yet the judges and magistrates who heard their cases have no say over their early release.
Dr Soper said magistrates considered 'very hard' how to punish criminals, and added: 'It is frustrating when that careful thought seems to be undermined. It has certainly reduced my confidence in the system.'...
Tough on crime my arse, Labour love criminals and hate taxpayers.
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1 people have spoken:
The same sh!t is happening up here in Scotland:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/More-criminals-to-be-kept.4791555.jp
"JUDGES will be told to stop jailing criminals for six months or less in a controversial attempt by ministers to reduce prison overcrowding.
The crackdown on short-term sentences could slash the prison population from 8,000 to 5,000, as minor and first-time offenders are given beefed-up community service instead.
The Government believes the policy will reduce repeat offending, minimise prison unrest and remove the need for expensive new jails."
It doesn't matter what colours they fly under, SNP, Labour or Lib Dems, the liberals are as mad as hatters.
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