To think a custodial sentence for this is a bit OTT?

[WhoTheFuckIsSimon]

man falls asleep on train track

I appreciate its not a good thing to do, could have been very dangerous and it disrupted lots of people. But he didn't mean to do it, though I guess he did drink himself into such a state.

But men beat women up and don't go to prison! Just seems odd that people get away with non custodial sentences for much worse.

Perhaps it's because of his other convictions.

To me it seems like probation, community service and fines are not working on this man.

I think he is lucky it's 12 months and not his life.

Maybe. But his previous offences weren't anything to do with railway tracks (not sure what they were), so it's not as if he was doing the same thing over and over again.

Sounds to me like locking him up for a few months somewhere he doesn't have any access to booze might be doing him a favour.

My dh has had to go and deal with the scene after a person was hit by a train and decapitated. Train drivers who hit someone on the line are traumatised, and some never drive a train again.

Trains have LONG stopping distances - in many circumstances, if a train had come upon this person, the driver wouldn't have been able to stop the train, and obviously they can't swerve - so the driver would have had to sit there and watch his train drive over the sleeping man - he was incredibly lucky this didn't happen.

That said, I do think a 12 month sentence is overkill.

Serial offenders are frequently given custodial sentences for what may appear to be minor crimes because all other options have been exhausted without having brought about any reformation of their characters.

He'll be out in April and it's to be hoped that 6 months inside enables him to dry out and reflect on how close he came to losing his life because of the demon drink.

My sympathy is with the train driver and all of the passengers whose journeys were disrupted because of this man's wanton stupidity.

Thing is, 'I was drunk' is not any kind of excuse or mitigation, for obvious reasons. He did a stupid thing with far-reaching consequences (only money, but what if a train had derailed trying to brake and people had died?).

He has got previous convictions too, which may also be about stupid behaviour with potentially serious consequences. I don't know.

All in all it doesn't seem unfair to me.

It could well do him a favour as it could give him the chance to sort out his drink problem.

Yabu. I would assume her got a custodial sentence due to previous convictions and due to the potential impact and damage to others. Meaning the driver.

I do think that people who keep comitting small crimes over extended periods should be locked up.

I would have thought putting an alcoholic into jail rather than a treatment programme risks making his addiction problem worse. Happened to my late BIL: went in as a troubled young man with an alcohol problem, came out an addict. Prison is rarely a good solution for people with mental illness (unless there is access to therapeutic care/ a rehabilitation programme - which is unlikely).

Misti and maybe try have tried that. The whole point is we don't know. It's easy to judge from outside court but we don't know the ins and outs.

Sorry to hear that Misti.

It's tough because mandated treatment doesn't work very well either. People give up when they are ready, if they are ever ready. Longer sentences are actually better in some ways because with a very short sentence, there is no chance to engage with education or groups inside. I hope this man will find something inside that helps him live outside. Poor bugger.

I agree and don't think the punishment fits the crime. I can only presume there's more to it..

It does make me think that much more needs to be invested in mental health and addiction services. I would much rather see this man sentenced to mandatory residential rehabilitation and counselling than sent to jail. He doesn't appear to be a danger to anyone aside from being a dick that makes bloody awful decisions. I don't see how you're average prison and criminal record is going to do anything but make life more difficult for him.

but what if a train had derailed trying to brake

Then it's a really badly designed train. If an emergency stop caused hundreds of deaths, it would be a pretty pointless feature to have.