Top judge attacks sentencing laws

I welcome this judges opinion, but the problem is that for over 50 years now society and the government have communicated a lack of responsibility for ones actions. No one should be released ever after committing a murder. Life in prison should mean departure is after dead. Now any one who ends up being released should only happen after the criminal is rehabilitated. I recognize that in this day and age the courts are concerned about the prisoner rights, I am more concerned about the victims. Any society that seems to put a greater emphasis on the criminals rights than that of the victims must be in serious trouble.

The problem, he said, was that consequences of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act - which led to longer sentences for murder and other serious crimes - had not been foreseen by ministers and MPs.

"I do not believe that these simple propositions have been fully appreciated by those responsible for formulating criminal policy."

He called for more emphasis on fines and community rehabilitation as well as increased effort to tackle family breakdown.

"If you decide to lock up one man for a minimum term of 30 years, you are investing £1m or more in punishing him," Lord Phillips continued.

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Top judge attacks sentencing laws

Lord Phillips called for more community punishments

The government's sentencing policy has forced overcrowding in jails to critical levels, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales has warned.

Speaking at a Howard League for Penal Reform event, Lord Phillips said UK jails were "full to capacity", adding: "We simply cannot go on like this."

He said legislation introduced in 2003 forcing judges to impose longer sentences had made the situation worse.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw welcomed his "important contribution".

'Not foreseen'

Lord Phillips told the audience that between 200 and 300 prisoners a night were being held in police cells in England and Wales because prisons were full.

f you decide to lock up one man for a minimum term of 30 years, you are investing £1m or more in punishing him Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers Lord Chief Justice Profile: Lord Chief Justice

Jails, he said, were forced to close their doors to new admissions, with cells designed for one prisoner having to accommodate two.

The problem, he said, was that consequences of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act - which led to longer sentences for murder and other serious crimes - had not been foreseen by ministers and MPs.

He added: "Unless parliament is prepared to provide whatever resources are necessary to give effect to the sentences that judges choose, in their discretion, to impose, parliament must re-examine the legislative framework for sentencing.

"I do not believe that these simple propositions have been fully appreciated by those responsible for formulating criminal policy."

He called for more emphasis on fines and community rehabilitation as well as increased effort to tackle family breakdown.

"If you decide to lock up one man for a minimum term of 30 years, you are investing £1m or more in punishing him," Lord Phillips continued.

"That sum could pay for quite a few surgical operations or for a lot of remedial training in some of the schools where the staff are struggling to cope with the problems of trying to teach children who cannot even understand English. "

Justice Secretary Jack Straw, said: "I welcome this significant speech.

"It makes an important contribution to a matter of great public interest."

Nick Herbert, the Conservative justice spokesman, said that the government had not paid attention to prison levels when setting the sentencing framework.

He added: "We are now paying the price with grossly overcrowded prisons that do not rehabilitate offenders, rising reconviction rates and panic early release measures."

Man guilty in jogger murder case

Is senseless violence, murder and other violent crimes on the upswing, I think so. When someone sexually assaults someone and murders them in broad day light. What else do we think.
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man described as a loner has been convicted of murdering a Harrods shop worker found buried in a shallow grave in a park where she went jogging.

Garath Davies, 23, was convicted of killing Egeli Rasta in Mitcham Common, south London, in July 2006.

The 27-year-old Estonian was reported missing a day after finishing work and her body lay undiscovered for 12 days.

Davies, from Mitcham, south London, and originally from Llanelli, denied murder and perverting the course of justice.

The court heard that Miss Rasta, who was "fit, athletic, and quite strong", lived near Mitcham Common and would often jog and sunbathe there.

She disappeared on 4 July - a day after working a shift at the LK Bennett concession at Harrods.

Mark Ellison, prosecuting, said Davies was "something of a loner" who spent quite a lot of time on the common alone or with his black Staffordshire terrier, Tyson.

Precisely what happened to Miss Rasta was unclear because her body was decomposed so badly a pathologist was unable to establish the cause of death.

This horror will never end for me and my family Egeli Rasta's mother Sirje

A knife stained with her blood was found in a sack in Davies' holdall, alongside two homemade sex toys.

This was coupled with the fact that the victim was found naked, "clearly suggesting a sexual motive", Mr Ellison said.

Davies told the court that at the time he was "chain smoking" cannabis and was "very stoned" on the day Miss Rasta was killed.

Davies later told police: "I'm afraid I might have done it. I can't remember."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Miss Rasta's mother Sirje said: "This horror will never end for me and my family.

"Egeli's nine-year-old sister has asked me a million times: 'Where is she? Is she still far away? Why wouldn't she come home?'

"I have no courage nor the knowledge to explain to her what has happened."

Davies will be sentenced on 14 December.

Body in garden is missing Vicky

Murder should at least result in life incarcerated. My guess he will be out before he breathes his last breath. Assuming he is guilty, little doubt of that.


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Body in garden is missing Vicky
Human remains found in the garden of a house in Kent are those of missing 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, police say.

The remains of Vicky - last seen in West Lothian in 1991 - were found at the Margate house by police who had been focusing on another missing girl.

Scotsman Peter Tobin, who once lived at the property, was arrested and charged in July over Vicky's disappearance.

Police in England are looking at other murders to determine if there is a link to the discovery of Vicky's remains.

Houses searched

Mr Tobin is currently in custody and is expected to appear before Linlithgow Sheriff Court on Thursday on charges related to the death of Vicky.

Detectives had been looking for missing 18-year-old Dinah McNicol at the Margate house and have said they are continuing to search for any other human remains.

Vicky, who lived in Redding near Falkirk, Stirlingshire, was last seen waiting for a bus in Bathgate on 10 February 1991.

She had been travelling from Livingston to her home and was changing buses when she disappeared.

She was last seen in Bathgate's George Square. Eyewitnesses said she was sitting on a bench eating chips.

Personal items belonging to Vicky, believed to be jewellery and clothing, were also discovered at the house in Kent.

In 1993, Vicky's mother Janette died without knowing what had happened to her daughter.

A review of the case into Vicky's disappearance was launched by Lothian and Borders Police last year.

'Deep search'

Police searched a house in Bathgate where Peter Tobin once lived and in October a house in Southsea, Hampshire, was searched.
Police have said they are still searching the Margate house for the remains of Dinah McNicol, who was from Essex but failed to return after a trip to Hampshire in 1991.

Det Supt Tim Wills, of Essex Police, said: "We came here to search for Dinah McNicol or any physical evidence which might link her disappearance to that house.

"And that's what we will continue to do. I do not intend to leave the house until I'm fully satisfied that there are not any other human remains at that site."

He added that once a ground level search has been completed, a "deep search" would get under way which could take "a number of days".

Man jailed over nail gun fantasy

This is just actually amazing. Self mutalation for attention isn't really new but with a nail gun is!
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David Russell, 38, of Widden Street, Gloucester, told police he had been set upon by three men and shot seven times.

Julian Kesner, prosecuting, said: "He injured himself twice, was operated on twice and, in connection with the first incident received over £4,000 from the criminal compensation board.

"Media freedom dented" or is it freedom abused

Are we free to denigrate anyone we like and call it our freedom. I think not. No one appreciates being slandered or defamed. It is one thing to portray the king as doing nothing, it is another thing to bring a sexual act with his wife and call it "Freedom of the Press". The article is right in comparing it to the cartoons about Muhamed, and those should have been prosecuted as well.
We now live in a permissive society in which everyone wants there rights, without the responsibilities to go with them. Piled on top of that is a society that believes that there is nothing truly right or wrong as there is no arbitrator.

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Was it lese majeste or just a good laugh? Scurrilous libel or a witty commentary on a topical issue for Spanish parents?
Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia
El Jueves poked ribald fun at the royal couple
A court in Spain has convicted Manel Fontdevila, cartoons editor of the popular satirical weekly magazine El Jueves, and cartoonist "Guillermo" of "damaging the prestige of the crown".
Both men received a hefty 3,000-euro (£2,100) fine.
Their offence was to have published a cartoon last July making ribald fun of the heir to the Spanish throne, and of the government's scheme to encourage women to have more babies by giving mothers a special payment for each new birth.
It was a caricature of Prince Filipe having sex with his wife, Princess Letizia, and telling her: "Do you realise that if you get pregnant, it will be the closest thing to work I've done in my life?"

'More censorship'
The cartoon is funny, but the issue raised by its banning is serious. The episode has worrying echoes of last year's frenzied and violent protests against the cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad printed in European newspapers.
 
Spanish law gives special protection to royals
Those cartoonists faced death threats, a number of people died in disturbances around the world, and the end result was a defeat for freedom of expression.

In the Spanish case, censorship of the magazine has already taken place and will not be reversed. Within hours of the cartoon's appearance Spanish judges ordered the seizure of all copies of that edition of the magazine.
This is only one of a growing number of recent cases of media censorship or self-censorship in Europe that have arisen thanks to restrictive laws or monopolistic patterns of media ownership.

Some, like the Spanish case, involve attempts to prosecute journalists for violating laws that give special protection to the most powerful and privileged figures in public life.

In Romania, a law has just been passed which exposes journalists to the risk of seven years in jail if they publish video footage taken secretly of politicians taking bribes. It follows a case in which film of a government minister accepting a secret cash payment was shown on TV, leading to his resignation.

In France, a newspaper expose written during this year's presidential election campaign, revealing that Cecilia Sarkozy - the then wife of winning candidate Nicolas Sarkozy - failed to cast her vote, was removed on orders from the newspaper's owner, a close associate of the new President.

In Turkey, the infamous Article 301 of the criminal code makes it an offence punishable by jail terms to insult the armed forces or those in positions of high office.

Criminal prosecutions

Turkish officials insist that similar laws protecting the holders of high offices of state also exist in France and other Western countries.

But a Turkish legal expert explained the difference: "It's like the laws in some American states that still ban oral sex between married couples", he said. "They exist on paper but are no longer used!"

In Turkey, hundreds of journalists have been prosecuted under Article 301 and similar laws.

Miklos Haraszti is Europe's chief enforcer of media freedom on the governments and courts of the 56 member states of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).

He says that oppressive laws against the media, intimidation and threats of dismissal, are all being used as weapons to censor the work of journalists in Eastern and Western Europe today.

The latest evidence for that harsh verdict comes from a Survey of Media Freedom in 20 European states presented to the OSCE's Representative for Media Freedom last weekend. The study, entitled Goodbye to Freedom?, was published by the independent Association of European Journalists.

'Unusable' laws
It finds that within the past year alone, journalists in 18 out of 20 European countries - including would-be models of democracy like Germany, the Netherlands and France - have faced criminal prosecution, or been jailed for breaking various laws that impede them from reporting on matters of public interest. (The two exceptions were the Czech Republic and the UK.)

Yet each year dozens of judgements made by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg overturn the convictions of journalists on libel or secrecy charges in national courts.

So is it really time for the media in Europe to say "Goodbye to Freedom"? Miklos Haraszti says simply that European governments must not pass laws, like criminal libel for journalists, which are "unusable".

The prosecution and conviction of the cartoonists who published a funny sketch of a Spanish prince to make their viewers laugh has chipped away a bit more from the fragile pillar of media freedom in Europe.
William Horsley is media freedom representative for the Association of European Journalists.

US House approves gay rights bill

I am not for discrimination in any way. I believe whole heatedly that Homosexuals should be treated with respect after all the desire should be to see them won to Christ and reformed from their destructive lifestyles, the same as any one who is not walking in the light of the Glory of the Lord. The specialized treatment that this minority, based on their actions, is asking for is a true sign of the fall of western world. I wonder if we can set up a peak or starting point, I doubt it but this is surely a big step along the way.

The other aspect of this is that they would then work on getting the special exceptions removed, to force the church and other religious organizations from "discriminating speech"

The interesting thing is that the extreme Muslim groups are always pointing out the sexualization of the west as there key argument for attacking, and these groups are so disenfranchised, that they have a higher per capita income than any other group, so I have been told, continually prove them right.

MP's want to wafle and kill the next generation.

MPs call for abortion law reforms
Merely because people have a social agenda and try to portray it as science means nothing. Science can not indicate morality. I guess these MP's would legislate that if the baby survived an abortion than it was perfectly acceptable to do Scientific Research on the child. No matter what they say the reason for the laws is because no one is certain of the facts of the life of the child in the governement and they are trying to cover their backsides.
But it is a child!


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There is no reason why women seeking an abortion should need the approval of two doctors, a group of MPs has said.

A report by the Commons science and technology committee found the requirement did not serve a useful purpose and might be causing delays.

MPs also rejected calls to lower the 24-week legal limit for an abortion in England, Wales and Scotland.

They said although survival rates for babies born at 24 weeks had improved, they had not done so below that point.

Not all members of the cross-party committee agreed with the report's findings, however.


We have focused on the science, and have done so rigorously
Phil Willis, committee chairman

Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Bob Spink published their own separate report, claiming they had been misled on survival rates and also on the question of whether foetuses could feel pain.

The main report also called for more involvement by nurses in early abortions.

Nurse role

It said nurses and midwives with suitable training and professional guidance should not be prevented from carrying out all stages of early medical abortions, which involves the use of drugs, and early surgical abortions.


HAVE YOUR SAY
One doctor alone should not be allowed to sign away a potentially viable human life
Nicky, London

Send us your comments

There was no evidence such a move would compromise patient safety or quality of care, the committee's report found.

It recommended just one doctor should have to sign a consent form, rather than the two currently required by the Abortion Act - a change proposed by the British Medical Association.

It went on to say there was also no evidence to suggest women, who chose to do so, should not take the second of two pills required for an early abortion at home.


The report should have reflected the differences of opinions which exist and allowed MPs to draw their own conclusions
Minority report submitted by MPs Nadine Dorries and Bob Spink

Committee chairman Phil Willis said: "Abortion is a complex issue. As a science and technology committee, we have focused on the science, and have done so rigorously.

"In our inquiry we have attempted to sift the evidence on scientific and medical developments since the last amendment of the law in 1990 and since the 1967 Act."

MPs 'misled'

He urged all MPs and the public to study the evidence and their conclusions.

The matter will now be debated in the House of Commons.

Pro-choice and anti-abortion MPs are expected to table amendments to the forthcoming Human Tissue and Embryos Bill in light of the committee's findings.


This pragmatic and sensible report provides a valuable reference point for anyone who is thinking seriously about how modern abortion care should be provided.
Ann Furedi
British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Bob Spink said MPs "have been misled in this report on two major issues: pain and survival. Two areas where experts strongly disagree and there is no clear consensus on either issue.

"The report should have reflected the differences of opinions which exist and allowed MPs to draw their own conclusions."

Labour MP Jim Dobbin, chairman of the all-party Pro-Life group, said the committee had "ignored key scientific developments" and criticised its failure to consider ethical, as well as scientific arguments as "deeply worrying".

"The imbalance of witnesses also skewed the outcome of the evidence presented," he said.

Still controversial

Marie Stopes International welcomed the committee's report as "a victory for science over thinly-veiled ideological hokum".

Ann Furedi, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a major provider of abortions, said: "This pragmatic and sensible report provides a valuable reference point for anyone who is thinking seriously about how modern abortion care should be provided."

But Michaela Aston, a spokeswoman for anti-abortion charity Life, was angry that MPs rejected lowering the 24 week limit.

She accused the committee of "following a predetermined ideological agenda that owes very little to a careful consideration of the facts".

BBC health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys says abortion remains intensely controversial after 40 years and the figures have continued to rise.

In 2006 there were almost 200,000 abortions in England and Wales with a further 13,000 in Scotland.

Our correspondent says the vast majority were early abortions - 89% were carried out before 13 weeks and just 2% after 20 weeks.

Almost all are permitted on the grounds that pregnancy would damage the physical or mental health of the woman. Only 1% of abortions are carried out on the grounds that the child would be born with a serious disability.

Justice or Political Correctness?

Gay couple adoption appeal lost
Now the interesting note to this article is not only about that this man can not practice his beliefs while on the job, its the mere title to the article itself. Clearly the writer of the news piece has a social agenda to push, that this man hates homesexuals and can not abide them.
The article could have said "Mgistrate loses appeal to practice faith while deciding on adoption." It does not. It has Gay as the header of the article with this mans picture right next to it.
And the BBC claims to be unbiased. I hope they lay off more, but I suspect the trully unbiased will be the ones to go.

PS I praise Andrew McClintock for standing up for his beliefs.

Justice?

Can swigging driver killed woman
What is the just penalty of smeone who willfully goes out and drinks and does drugs and then murders a woman and criples her husband. I suspect its more than what this boy got. The article fails to say but it does say that he got a five year driving ban. Is that after or during the time in remand.

Moral absence during Prime Time: A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila

I find this to be an amazing and depressing show. This is not on playboy, though it should be. No really it should not be on. This show was on during prime time for any child to watch. It was clearly meant to be educating that there view of sexuality was the only right one. Trully the view that the rest of the world has of America is true. How can anyone value a show that is a sex choice show, promoting a sexual liaison.
Moral absence: A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila


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Are you ready for the ultimate battle of the sexes? Well, you better be 'cause there's about to be an all-out war over cyber hottie Tila Tequila!

Although Tila has racked up more than 2 million MySpace friends, she still hasn't found "the one," and she's ready to do anything to find him -- or her! This self-proclaimed "bisexual freak" has had her heart broken by men and women, and she's tired of being alone. With our help, she's inviting 16 luscious lesbians and 16 sexy straight guys over to her place for A Shot of Love With Tila Tequila. Yes, it's time for Tila to unfurl her freak flag and find true love.

At first, the guys and girls won't know about each other. But once Tila narrows the field down to a few of her favorites, she's going to tell them all that she's bi. And when the two sides learn they have to vie for her affection, all hell breaks loose. There'll be hair pulling, sucker punching, ball-busting and, er, even some butt waxing. Oh, and let's not forget threesomes. There's bound to be at least a few of those. But all is fair in love and war, right?

Even though Madonna has milked it, Angelina Jolie embraced it and TV shows like The O.C. and One Tree Hill have flirted with it, bisexuality is still the stuff of winks and nudges. But with A Shot at Love, Tila Tequila hopes to thrust the taboo into the spotlight and prove that flaunting your sexuality can be -- and should be -- fun. While Tila is dead serious about finding someone to get serious with, she's just not sure if she wants a relationship with a man or a woman. Who will win her heart?

Going where no dating show has gone before, A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila pits men against women in a number of romantic challenges, all in an effort to win Tila's attention and affection. But just because Tila can't decide which sex suits her best doesn't mean the girl doesn't know what she wants. In fact, she knows exactly what she's looking for in a partner, and she'll keep kicking out potential suitors one by one until she finds Mr. or Ms. Right. May the best sex win!

From girl fights to boy brawls to mad make out sessions, all the best action always follows Tila Tequila. So, bust out the limes, tilt your head back and get ready for A Shot at Love.