To feel sorry for (and think the punishment is too long) for the 18 year old who threw the fire extinguisher in the protests

[LaurieFairyonthetreeEatsCake]

2 years, 8 months in jail

here

That's a looooong time. Is the reasoning supposed to be that it's a deterrent?

There are people with asbo's who cause no end of trouble and don't get sentences like this.

YABU.
He was a complete idiot for doing what he did.

He will think before he acts in the future.

ampere I was thinking something similarish to that when I saw someone drive past the local junior school texting the other day... no one was killed, sure, but that person was guilty of being utterly reckless...

tazmosis
I'm sorry the subtlety of my post bypassed you, I was talking about society not individually.

Bless your heart.

'should have been handing out leaflets at the train stations etc & arranged a party in the park with free music & burgers to protest in they could have all chilled out & yet put there anger out in some form of protest its called parenting offering a divertion to the situation something us mums have been doing since we had them at our breasts...'

So the taxpayer is responsible for mollycoddling adults so they'll behave themselves?!

People need to learn, at home, that they are considered adults at 18, and with rights come responsibilities.

That it's okay to party and have fun, but when you cross the line into criminality you can expect to be treated like a criminal.

Lochnessmonster (very apt name methinks) How vitriolic would you have been if Ian Tomlinson was your son, father, husband??

If he was black, Asian or working class white boy from a council estate, I doubt this question would have been asked.

I am surprised but very pleased with the severity of the sentence. He was an idiot and totally deserved it. I have enjoyed reading kungfu's insightful comments.

Cain - you posted it on a thread about a specific case. But yes of course I am a bit thick and missed your point!

Mariepuree - I think you'll find he is working class '...first member of his family ever to go to higher eduction' etc.

Have to say though, that I heard this on the radio originally and had no idea who he was, where he lived, what colour his skin was - and still my first reaction was 'too harsh'.

mariepuree i been pondering that and i am unsure as to whether a boy those categories would have recieved a sentence anywhere near as harsh.

I am amazed that people can honestly think this sentence was "harsh"
would you be saying that if he had killed someone,
he very nearly did.

What are you on about jonicomelately Sod off.

2shoes i was assuming people had seen my earlier posts i am in aggreement with the sentence-am a coppers wife-wrong choice of word in last post.

slhilly - why are you astonished that I think that arguing about the police getting away with things is a straw man argument? It has nothing to do with sentencing tariffs.

And as regards sentencing being consistent, I have explained at some length the reason why some high profile sentences may not, on the face of it, seem consistent. Unfortunately, a lot of people will take what they read in the papers as gospel and look no further into the issue. The criminal justice system and the sentencing guidlines council don't exist to cater to the lowest common denominator, ie what the Daily Mail wants people to focus on. They exist to deal with the administration of justice in the way which has developed over a long period of time, with input from thousands and thousands of people.

The system isn't perfect. No system is. But it is evolving all the time.

So if you want to compare this sentence with all sorts of other random examples picked out of the news archives then that is, of course, a matter for you. Unfortunately, it means you won't build up a meaningful picture of how the whole thing actually works.

If you are really interested then there are all sorts of online resources that you can use.

Ampere - the situation you describe is highly unlikely to lead to criminal charges so there would be no sentencing issue.

overwhealmed: If this Country was run by more women it would not be in the misreable mess it is

ah yes, the blissful Thatcher years, how we miss them...

\link{http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-12007100\but this man, who killed a child with his car, was jailed for only 4 months & subsequently allowed to stay in the country permanently despite being an illegal immigrant}

yes, the boy with the fire extinguisher did a stupid thing & made a huge mistake & yes, he was very lucky that nobody died, but surely he's a lot less culpable than Aso Ibrahim. (I know I was lucky to get away with some pretty stupid acts when I was late teens; I'm wondering if I'm the only one around here )

oh ffs, we could all find a news story to link to, this man did wrong, he is supposed to be intelligent so using he would know that his actions could kill.

We could all find news stories yes which is why this is so shocking.he was made an example of and that isn't what the law is about.The sentence is supposed to fit the crime and in this case it didn't.

I feel sorry for him to be honest. The fact that he handed himself in indicates that he is a nice kid who just did something really, really stupid. I think back to when I was that age and I was bloody stupid too - I remember myself and my friends putting traffic cones in the middle of a road on a drunken night out. We thought it was funny for some reason but am aware looking back that it was incredibly dangerous. We got told off by passers by and luckily that was the end of it.

This kid was wrong but at the end of the day, nobody died and he is clearly sorry. I have read of sex offenders getting similar sentences and that just seems wrong to me because I don't think he deliberately set out to hurt anyone.

I haven't read all of this, don't have time.

Alot of posters have remarked that he was sentenced on the basis of what "could have happened", instead of what actually happened and that this doesn't make sense.

Try looking up the offence he was charged with i.e. violent disorder.

The Public Order Act 1986 s.2 states:

1. Where 3 or more persons who are present together use or threaten unlawful violence and the conduct of them (taken together) is such as would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at the scene to fear for their personal safety, each of the persons using or threatening unlawful violence is guilty of violent disorder.

2. It is immaterial whether or not the 3 or more use or threaten unlawful violence simultaneously.

3. No person of reasonable firmness need actually be, or be likely to be, present at the scene.

4. Violent disorder may be committed in private as well as in public places.

So he is definitely guilty of it especailly as he pleaded to it. Also he wasn't sentenced on the basis that he could have killed someone. The crime of violent disorder is conduct that causes people to fear for their personal safety. He casued people to fear for their personal safety therefore he was sentenced for what he did and what happened on that day and not what could have happened.

Violent disorder carries a maximum sentence of 5 years. He did pretty well in getting less than half of that as what he did was so fucking stupid and dangerous it was beyond belief. I would given him 5 years.

If he hadn't handed himself in would the people feeling sorry for him still feel the same way?

I think the judge said the sentence reflected the fact that he had handed himself in? so it would have been harsher if he hadn't...

However. He was swept up in the excitement of the moment & did something I'm sure he would never have contemplated normally.

I also think he is being punished, excessively, for the way the whole demonstration got out of hand, which was due to lax policing, for which the Met have had to grovel.

He is being scapegoated pour encourager les autres.

"the age of criminal responsibility"???

You mean Thompson & Venables???

He was plastered all over the national news - he didn't have much chance of getting away with it. Think the 'handing himself in' bit is irrelevant.

Still least he can study inside, no massive student loan for him!