Thread: Wtf

Originally Posted by Sidney

Pete...

You are correct, sentencing isn't justice. You could say that sentencing is the execution of justice and it is a component of the system of justice.

I don't minimise the way your lives have been affected in any way. But how would the way that you feel, and the way that you are affected by the loss of your father, actually change if the kid had got 20 years or the rest of his life, or even been hung by his neck?

I am not sticking up for anybody, accountability is the issue, but justice is simply being held accountable. The sentence may be more or less equitable/fair in your opinion, but you are only considering it from your perspective. Being a judge requires balancing perspectives, the victims, societal and the offender... whether you understand that or not this place is a better place because of it.

There are plenty of other places in the world to live that don't balance those perspectives, but you and most of us would not want to live there.

What you are talking about is how that balance is prioritised or weighted. That is always up for debate, but in spite of your understanding there is significant legal opinion that considers that our justice system has become too weighted towards the victim, and this distorts the application of the law.

I am always interested in the "rights of the criminal/perpetrator" comment. People don't seem to connect that these are actually the same rights that apply to ordinary citizens, until guilt is established. To reduce the "rights of the perpetrator prior to conviction" is to also reduce the rights of everybody else. I'm certainly not comfortable with that, nor should anybody else be.

Fair enough comment Sydney. I apologise if you think my comments were a direct attack on you personally, that was not my intention.

I was trying to give an example of where, in my opinion, the legal system let not only my family but also society down.

Anyway we seem to have drifted away from the main thrust of the original post so I'll leave it that.