To be horrified at this sentence: 5 years! For a non violent crime

[TheAudie]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12047811/Metal-detectorists-jailed-five-years-trying-sell-766-000-Anglo-Saxon-coins.html#comments-12047811

It's high value fraud though.

They will only serve 2 years.

They would get less time if they were rapists. It’s a ridiculous sentence

YANBU. There should be another way to punish a serious but non-violent offender who poses no risk to the public.

YANBU this was not a violent crime, and was not what I’d call a horrific or awful crime - they didn’t rob an old aged pensioner!

I don’t think this kind of crime should ever have a prison sentence, we do not need to be protected and they do not pose a danger to anyone.

I don’t think money should be valued more highly than life and harms to life.

Which bit is the problem for you? Their sentences or that a rapist might get a lesser sentence?

Prison isn't only for protecting the public from dangerous people. It's where you go to be punished when you've committed a crime. You have your liberty taken from you in exchange for the crime you committed.

I didn’t write this, but for me it would absolutely be relevant that a rapist or someone who physically assaulted someone got less prison time than an offence purely for money, and one which didn’t have a clear victim either (the money had been in the ground for hundreds of years).

Because I think money should not be valued more highly than harms to human life.

A large fine would have been more appropriate. If they did the crime for financial gain, create financial loss (and a criminal record).

Prison is only one form of punishment and I do not think it is proportionate or appropriate for crimes to do only with money. There are several more appropriate forms of punishment and community service in a museum and a fine would probably be far more proportionate and appropriate in this case.

I agree

But at great expense to the tax payer. I’d much rather they were punished in a way that contributes to society instead - a fine, community service etc.

And in regards to prison I do think considering how ineffective it often is, how expensive it is, how little space we have in prisons that it should be reserved for only when we need to be protected as a society from violent offenders.

A large fine and a lot of community service would have been more appropriate and much cheaper for the taxpayer

Apparently there was a longer sentence too!

“November 2019: George Powell, 41, and Layton Davies, 54, found guilty of theft, conspiracy to conceal criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property at Worcester Crown Court after they failed to report their find and tried to sell the items. They were jailed for more than 18 years.”

and four others were arrested “in relation” to the crime.

Its a bonkers sentence (compared to violent crime) I agree. I had no idea coins were taken so seriously in this country…

I think there is an element of deterring others, in handing down a prison term

It’s because historically the rich made the laws, and the rich valued money! So I think this is the reason we have sentencing which don’t reflect appropriate punishments for us as a society. I personally for example believe that repeated crimes, violent crimes and those targeting the vulnerable eg uploading child abuse images should be the ones that we reserve prisons sentences and our most serious punishments.

It’s ridiculous that a rapist gets less time.

it’s a very high sentence for a non violent crime

I agree that rapists and violent criminals should get more, but nonviolent crime is still crime and I don't want a justice system that says that people can get away with serious crimes so long as noone gets hurt.

Theft is still theft and there are laws in place for who is allowed to claim ownership of ancient hoards of treasure - they weren't stealing from long-dead Anglo saxons they were stealing from the legitimate owners as defined in law. I don't think theft is less serious if there isn't a specific individual owner of what you steal - otherwise bank robbery would be a less serious crime.

Exactly so we as a society have decided it was more important to deter people who find money than to deter people from harming or assaulting others. I think that is the point.

The country is a state, there should be many more longer community service orders, it not like there isn't anything they could do, 2 years unpaid work in the community is much more appropriate.

This.

We have this belief as a society that only prison counts as punishment. Headlines scream that someone who might have received a huge fine and loads of community service "walks free". It's hugely damaging and I don't know how we could fix it, but it might mean pandering to the Daily Mail tendency with deliberately demeaning community service.

Community Service sounds great in practice but is really hard to arrange. I have occasionally had them come to do some work where I work, but the manager has a really hard time finding places where they can actually serve their community service.

And you can't have them doing what would otherwise be paid work I.e. lay off road sweepers so community service teams can do it.

It’s a deterrent. The sentence is fine, the problem is with the pathetic sentences rapists and sex offenders get.

That's incredibly naive, same as all the other posters droning on about "money." The real crime these people have done is to irretrievably destroy a rare historical heritage. Any monetary value of the coins is completely secondary. They needed to be examined in situ, for all of the countless information around them that can only be found through proper archeological excavation. The actual coins themselves are the smallest part of that.

Maybe they could be trained to fill potholes as that obviously isn't being done so they are not taking anyone's job