Someone I vaguely know is going to jail

[Samscity]

An article was circulated in a WhatsApp group chat today of someone we went to university with. He was involved in a hit and run and killed the person and then handed himself in. He's now going to jail

I think it's so scary how someone's fate can change so dramatically in a heartbeat. I feel it's shocking and so devastating that someone died. I don't know the guy that did it well at all, just saw him at a friend's flat party etc never spoke to him.. but just all very unnerving

That's 1.2% A YEAR! Not lifetime.

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/number-of-arrests/latest

Not only were you way off with your numbers of convicted people, but your maths and probability number only works if you only know one person.

Well, the examples you give are degrees of separation aren't they - I don't know my hairdresser's mother from Adam so why would I know if they were a shoplifter? My definition of people I know would be people I speak to and know their name.

Meanwhile a bloke with 35000 images of children on his phone got a suspended sentence!

@Twillow

'Hairdresser's mother' - some people go to the hairdresser once a week for a wash and blow dry. They often have been seeing the same person for ten plus years. That's an example of how the OP's premise can be met.

Of course I don't know your specific relationship with your hairdresser. But my point is that there are very possibly a lot of people on the periphery of one's life who have criminal records.

What is your aibu? In fact what is it you posted for?

Yes, OP, you must provide a complete justification for any thread you start, and that justification must be ratified by a panel of members. Frivolous posts will not be tolerated. In this instance, "it's scary how someone's fate can change dramatically in a heartbeat" does not meet the panel's validity criteria 😂

The fact that your thread's generated 131 replies is insufficient evidence of worth. Please return to Lurkers until you have an acceptable topic to discuss and have obtained the appropriate permission!

@Americano75 can you tell some of the stories?

Ooooft afraid not. Let's just day it's given me a really valuable insight into human nature.

The people I know who have been in prison, I know because I saw them in the local newspaper or Facebook page. I had not seen them in real life in many years. A lot from the pub have been to prison, no one knows what for as it’s ancient news, a friends dad was done for a historical sex crime (absolute bastard), one of my exes exes went to prison for selling drugs, and I knew a big news robber personally. That one was international news.

so my point is, unless you actively look out for it, you’ll never see it. Had I just kept to myself, the only one I would know would have been the big news robber because I knew them directly. And even then they didn’t tell me, I saw them coming out of court in the Daily Mail! Hahahah!

LOL at the innocents who don't know people who have been arrested or in jail!🤣😂🤣

How the hell can you get well into adult life in the UK, living such a sheltered life?! 🙄😆

Round where I live even most of the kids under 10 know people who have been in trouble with the law!

Nothing wrong with having a "sheltered" life. As someone with a father who spent my childhood in and out of prison, it's nothing to brag about and I'd rather have been the child with a sheltered life than the one who saw her dad taking drugs, his name in the newspapers so all the other parents didn't want their kids being friends with you and receiving blood stained letters from jail.

@CremeEggThief Maybe because they don't live where you live. I don't personally know anyone either. I just hear stories from others. Not one person in my family, friendship group, schoolmates, or close neighbours has ever been arrested.

Of course it's wrong for some people in this country to apparently be so privileged and sheltered and living in a bubble well into adulthood.
How can you people empathise and relate to the majority, who do not have this privilege, effectively? I think the simple answer is you can't.

That might be ok for most of you in this bubble, but it is not ok for certain professionals: e.g. childcare workers, teachers and social workers, who do not have awareness and respect for the different experiences and backgrounds of ALL the children they will come into contact with, not just the privileged.

No wonder society is growing more polarised instead of less.

Eh? Why does someone need to know a criminal to be able to empathise with people? And how is a privilege to not know one? That is really bizarre.

You can't possibly know for sure that none of them have ever been arrested.

But that doesn't matter. I don't know anyone who has been arrested.

No, you know a bunch of people but don't know if any of them has ever been arrested.

Right. If you ask me if I know anyone who has been arrested I can say "no" because I don't know anyone who has been arrested. I also don't know anyone who has had an abortion, or anyone who has shoplifted, or anyone who has smacked their children. It doesn't mean they haven't, but I don't know that they have. So I don't know anyone who has done those things.

Surely you are are of the difference between these 2 sentences.

1. I don't know anyone who has been arrested.

1. I don't know if anyone I know has been arrested.

"Surely by a certain age in life, everyone must know someone who's at least been arrested, if not have spent time in jail?"

That's the question people are responding to. The answer to that is "no". Then she went on a rant about people being privileged and unaware and living in a bubble to not be aware of these things.

Until I know someone has been arrested, I don't know that they have been arrested.

That's amazing, not your knowledge of who has or hasn't been arrested, but your inability to tell the difference between to 2 sentences.

We are going round in circles, I will leave it at that.

I know the difference, I just think it is irrelevant in the context of the question because the question is about people's knowledge of people who have been arrested or in jail. People are responding to that. No, they do not have knowledge of anyone who has been arrested or in jail. I don't know why you've decided to pick an argument about that. It's completely pointless.

Chances are a social worker will know someone who has been in jail.

I don't think a teacher needs to know someone who has been in jail to be a good teacher. I do not give a crap if DS's teachers do or not.

You can't help the circumstances in which you grow up.

Odd thread. Growing up in a rough part of London I know loads of people that have been to prison. You didn’t even know him from what you said, it was a friend of a friend 🤷🏻‍♀️ Not sure the point of the thread I don’t think it’s unusual to know of people that have been to prison IRL not Mumsnet world, my sister dated a guy about 10 years ago who committed a crime before they met and ended up going to prison for a very very long time. She had no idea it was just before they met but he never mentioned it. He will be an old man before he gets out, I won’t say the details of the crime but she did stay in contact with him for a while as she felt bad and would write to him in prison! No idea why, I told her to cut contact, and this is an intelligent person with a professional job so should know better, she finally cut contact with him but after a couple of years.