To think it was ridiculous to prosecute Mary Bale aka the cat-in the bin woman?

[mrsruffallo]

What a waste of time. Honestly, look at the world around you and get some perspective!

Carmen, it is not weird behaviour, it may be weird in your experience but actually it is far from extraodinary. People who kick their own dogs also stroke them, play with them, feed them and walk them.

Shit upbringing does not = mental illness, it equals shit upbringing and nothing more. Most people, even with a crap time as a kid get to know the basics of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour via school, relatives, friends, media and so on, so even if you can quote upbringing that still does not mean the "guilty" party was unaware that the action was wrong - infact there are very few cases ever where the perpetrator had genuinly no clue that what they were doing was wrong.

In this case she knew full well it was wrong so even if you could claim mental illness you could also argue that her particular mental illness allowed her to see that it was wrong and therefore she should still be punished!

I think your bleeding heart is a bit misplaced to be honest, if someone is aware that their actions are wrong then they deserve the appropriate punishment regardless of upbringing/stress levels/mental condition or anything else.

She is being punished because she was convicted of an offence and British law dictates that sentence must follow conviction. She was prosecuted because there was overwhelming evidence that she had committed an offence. The sentence was punitive rather than rehabilitive because of the type and level of the offence. Not every type of offence alllowsfor rehabilitative sentences as this involves vast quantities of money being spent on the probation service. She put a cat in a bin. She didn't torture it to death while smoking crack. She didn't wage a campaign of terror, putting cats in bins on a daily basis due to PTSD. What is there to rehabilitate? The probation service don't run animal cruelty rehabilitation courses. So they fined her. At a relatively low level. If she thinks she has issues relating to cats and bins then perhaps she should seek help for them through methods other than the court system.

Incidentally, the sentencing bench is now required to indicate the purpose of their sentence, ie whether it is to punish and deter, or rehabilitate and prevent further offending.

Putting cats in wheelie bins IS extraordinary otherwise why on earth would it receive so much media attention? It's quite different from dog-kicking as addressed.

I didn't say that a shit upbringing WAS a mental illness. However it is a reason that a person has been damaged emotionally.

My point is that I feel that people who have had a very poor upbringing and who are emotionally damaged by it (or who have been emotionally damaged in other ways) have already been punished. I don't believe punishment is the ethical or correct way to deal with their actions resulting from this damage. There are better ways to deter them from criminal acts and put them on a more positive route.

I absolutely disagree that the only criteria for punishment should be that a person knows they were doing something wrong. That sort of thinking is just vindictive.

Surely, ultimately a legal system should actually be about building a better society rather than just meting out punishments because a rulebook demands it.

Kungfu, yes and within the British legal system, I accept that she should be prosecuted.

However I question the ethics at the heart of that system.

Interesting side note about the sentencing bench. Thanks for the education (not sarcasm, genuinely interesting!)

Carmen, you were questioning the fact that she stroked it first then put it in the bin - that was the point I was addressing...perhaps you should re-read your own posts to keep context?

Emotional damage is not mental illness though is it? Your arguments don't make sense. As for punishment for a crime being "vindictive"...er, no, it is not vindictive as it is not for revenge.

Yabu.

I'm not paying for therapy for the condition of 'putting random cats in bins'! Blimey, anyone would think we didn't have a deficit! Of course if someone is filmed committing a crime, and admits committing a crime, then they should be tried. Nobody (here, ahem) is suggesting hanging her. A fine seems entirely appropriate. BTW catbinlady on Twitter is hilarious.

I think this falls into the catergory of just because you didnt kill someone/something doesnt mean you shouldnt be punished - she did something wrong end of - the idea that only certain levels of wrong should result in prosecution is not acceptable.

very different situation but to illustrate my point for example this week my sister is in court as a witness for a racial harrassment case - she was walking down the road and a man who is of a different race/colour from her whom she didnt know or speak to or even look at decided to throw his KFC in her face - when she complained he racially abused her - there happened to be 3 policeman walking down behind him who saw what happened and arrested him - my sister wanted to leave it as was not hurt and just wanted to go home and shower but the police talked her round as if nothing else it is the principle - you must control yourself and not seek to intimidate or interfere with other people, animals or property - I suspect this man didnt think his KFC was going to hurt or kill my sister and maybe he cant explain his actions or could cite stress or perhaps he experienced racism himself that day but he cant just do what he wants and becuase it was only KFC be left off.

What Coldcomfortfarm said - considerably more concisely than me!

CAT MINDING IT S OWN LITTLE LIFE/ BUSINESS , HARMING NO ONE AT ALL ENDS UP IN A BIN >4 WOT ? SOMEONE WHO, ONCE IN COURT SAYS THEY DID NOT KNOW WHY THEY ABUSED A CAT ? LIKE, U THINK 2 MUCH OFF A FUSS? WHO IS THE WEIRD ONE HERE ? IF IT HAD BEEN A KID ? PEOPLE WHO ARE CRUEL 2 ANIMALS ...... ETC ETC

Ahem...zombie thread alert....

Why has this been bumped. it's ancient history?

Beagle - not a clue...although I think the entire sentences in capital letters give it away a bit

Maybelater - why the constant bumping of old threads? Especially when all you've posted is crap?

YABU MrsRuffalo, even though I'm a meat eating, cat disliking, wheely bin owning grump.

What she did was cruel, it is right that the law acknowledges that.

Although the hysteria surrounding the whole case was just far too frothy.

Ooops. Maybelater stop shouting, I have a headache.

I think the general hoo-ha and hysteria was pretty ridiculous actually, that doesn't mean I disagree that she was prosecuted.

When a child is killed the nation doesn't go into meltdown, but it did over a cat, that's pretty skewed...so I see where you're coming from.

Ah right, v.old thread!! Still stand by my comment, even if it is a yearish too late!!