The UK CJS is in Crisis.

[Mey]

I'm a fairy avvid reader of anything related to the CJS having graduated with a degree in criminology, but I really do despair when I see the following sentences (Athough like most things these days, seen it all before.) so much so that it has actually vexed me quite alot.

Two court cases, two guilty verdicts two very different sentences.

A driver who seriously injured a 23-year-old woman in a hit and run collision has been jailed for 164 days.

Rohan Bingham, 35 of Crossland Road, Bestwood, Nottingham, pleaded guilty to five charges and was sentenced at Nottingham Magistrates Court on Thursday (16 June).

Bingham was driving a silver Ford Focus along Derby Road, Nottingham, on 20 November last year when he crashed into Clare Carver, who was crossing the road at the time.

Bingham did not stop and fled the scene.

Members of the public who had witnessed the collision helped Miss Carver, who had suffered a massive head injury and a number of other critical injuries to her body.

She was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham, where she underwent emergency surgery.

Seven months on, Miss Carver cannot walk and struggles to communicate. She remains in hospital and it is thought she will require medical care for the rest of her life.

Police arrested Bingham shortly after the incident. Officers searched his car and found a wrap of crack cocaine inside.

He was charged with careless driving, failing to stop at the scene of a collision and failing to report a road collision.

He was also charged with possession of a Class A drug and with having three defective tyres on his car, which did not contribute to the collision. He admitted all charges.

Bingham was sentenced to 150 days in prison for failing to report the incident and 14 days for possession of drugs. He was also banned from driving for four years.

Clare CarverMiss Carver, formerly of Woodborough Road, Mapperley, is the eldest of five children and grew up in Oxford before moving to Durham, where her family still lives. She has lived in Nottingham for the last four years.

Academically gifted, she had previously studied paediatric nursing at the University of Nottingham.

At the time of the crash, Miss Carver was studying for an additional set of A Levels at the New College, Nottingham, and was in the process of applying to university to study English Language and Psychology.

Her father Robert Carver, a senior lecturer at the University of Durham, today explained the difficulties facing his daughter.

He said: “It looks as though Clare will need round-the-clock care for the rest of her life and it appears unlikely that she will ever walk again.”

Dr Carver paid tribute to the medical staff at the Queen’s Medical Centre and to the people at the scene of the collision who cared for his daughter.

He said: “Clare is alive today only because there were people in the vicinity of the accident who did care, who saw a fellow human being in need and responded to that need.

“The contrast between their response and that of the driver – who simply left her to die (or to be struck again) in the road - could not be greater.”

Dr Carver also said that he would not want Bingham to experience the pain and anguish his family has endured in the last seven months.

He said: “I sincerely hope that he never has to witness what my wife and I saw when we arrived in Nottingham - I would not wish that experience on my worst enemy.

“But Mr Bingham also needs to acknowledge the reality of what he has done; he needs to be aware of the catastrophic damage that he has caused.”

He added: “At present, Clare is full of gratitude. She is grateful to be alive, grateful for the care and attention that she has been shown, and grateful for the love and concern that surround and sustain her. But she is beginning to fathom the full implications of her injuries.”


Detective Sergeant James Greely, who led the team who investigated the collision, said: “Miss Carver had a very bright and promising future ahead of her, and Bingham took this away from her the second he hit her and fled the scene.

“Instead of offering Miss Carver the help and care she needed, he cowardly kept on driving, leaving her in the road with life-threatening injuries.

“I cannot imagine the pain she and her family have endured in the last seven months and the strength and bravery they have shown throughout this ordeal is truly inspiring.

“This has been an incredibly emotional case to work on for the investigative team, who carried out a thorough and robust inquiry.

“We offer Clare and her family the very best for the future and we wish her well on the road to recovery.”

Posted on 21st June 2011 13:38

A woman has been sentenced for perverting the course of justice after she falsely reported she had been raped.

Aisha Mather, of Hertford Road, Stevenage, told police that a man had followed her inside an address in North Sherwood Street, around 6.55pm on Thursday 6 January. She alleged she had then been raped.

A forensic examination of the scene was carried out, along with house-to-house enquiries. Extra patrols were also allocated for community reassurance.

The 19-year-old appeared at Nottingham Crown Court on 10 May, where she pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, admitting she had made up the allegation.

Today she was sentenced to two years in prison.

So a guy who has left a girl with a promising future unable to walk and in need of daily care gets 150 days (14 for an unrelated crime).

A 19 year old girl who by all accounts has made a poor judgement but ultimately has not caused any harm to anyone and was desperate to hide the fact that she had failed university from her parents gets two years.

Where the hell is the justice here? I seriously thing our sentencing guidelines are out of touch with reality.

 

[Roo Stercogburn]

Interesting post, only slightly marred by starting it with "I'm a fairy"

 

[Mey]

haha! Lol! That's what happens when you type in rage! Silly L key sticks :/

 

[old.Tohtori]

So a guy who has left a girl with a promising future unable to walk and in need of daily care gets 150 days (14 for an unrelated crime).

A 19 year old girl who by all accounts has made a poor judgement but ultimately has not caused any harm to anyone and was desperate to hide the fact that she had failed university from her parents gets two years.

Where the hell is the justice here? I seriously thing our sentencing guidelines are out of touch with reality.

Well the main thing here is that the first story is made out as a "this is the victim, look at her, isn't it poor. Oh woe, turmoil and big words. PROBABILITY of never walking. Oh what a trooper." Get the point? Overselling for emotional reaction and a clear cut forced opinion as such on the severity of the issue. IT's filled with oohs and aahs, while putting the driver as simply as "drug using waste of space". Half a year in prison is a long time still(worse probably then the other party has to suffer during), people over-react with emotional stories like this and demand a head on a platter. PErhaps not enough, who knows, might change his life around as the justice system should.

Now the second part, you say no harm? First off she wasted court-time by useless allegations, that's...as many would say.."wasting our moneyz as taxpayers!". Second, the guy will have a lifelong rapsheet of beig an accused rapist. That's something that can easily ruin someones life for good and if heard by wrong people, might get him killed.

So, in a nuthsell? You're taking too much of your emotions into play when comparing two different cases based only on the time served.

 

[Mabs]

A 19 year old girl who by all accounts has made a poor judgement but ultimately has not caused any harm to anyone and was desperate to hide the fact that she had failed university from her parents gets two years.

apart from possibly destroying someones career, tarnishing their reputation for life, cos those things almost never go away, so no, personally id prefer if she had got a lot more to encourage other people to not do it


and in the other case, as usual, its piss poor nanny state shite.

 

[ECA]

In the first instance the guy should be doing 8-10.
In the second instance, I agree roughly with the sentence.

 

[Shagrat]

In the first instance the guy should be doing 8-10.
In the second instance, I agree roughly with the sentence.

this.

 

[Ch3tan]

You can't compare two sentences like that, especially for two very different crimes.

A judgement should be individual to the case. I don't agree with such a short sentence for the hit and run, but then again we do not have all the facts the judge did. The girl's sentence was too short IMO, wasting police time, potentially implicating someone in a false allegation. That time and money the police wasted could have saved someone else.

 

[dysfunction]

Interesting post, only slightly marred by starting it with "I'm a fairy"

Yes indeed!!

:lol:

 

[Tom]

Stealing a chicken or a horse was once a capital crime. People still stole chickens and horses.

Punitive justice isn't much of a deterrent.

 

[Corran]

First sentance is not long enough. Should been longer.

Second sentance isnt long enough. People like her need taught a lesson. Accuse of rape due to being scared of daddy! Bitch1

 

[Laddey]

In the first instance the guy should be doing 8-10.
In the second instance, I agree roughly with the sentence.

this also.


people have got less for worse crimes though.

 

[rynnor]

This is worse:

"A pedestrian group today called for prison sentences for dangerous cycling, after a cyclist who killed a teenager escaped with a fine.

Jason Howard, 36, was fined £2,200 yesterday after he was found guilty of dangerous cycling. He hit 17-year-old Rhiannon Bennett, who struck her head on the pavement as she fell and died of her injuries.

Her father, Mick Bennett, said the fine was laughable and that Howard should have been tried for manslaughter.

He shouted at the youngsters to "move, because I'm not stopping" but rode into Rhiannon, Aylesbury Magistrates Court heard."

Campaigners outraged after cyclist who killed teenager fined | UK news | guardian.co.uk

or

6 months for killing a man with a single punch.

BBC News - Brighton cyclist jailed for Tony Magdi manslaughter

 

[ford prefect]

I'm a fairly avvid reader of anything related to the CJS having graduated with a degree in criminology, but I really do despair when I see the following sentences (Athough like most things these days, seen it all before.) so much so that it has actually vexed me quite alot.

Two court cases, two guilty verdicts two very different sentences.

Yeah I see quite a lot of this kind of thing too. Often it seems to me that it largely depends on what is being campaigned against at the moment or public awareness. For example a couple of years ago as I am sure many of you remember, the government decided to crack down on knife crime, and the police followed orders and made plenty of arrests and the crown prosecution service came down pretty hard on even the slightest infringement.

Around that time I was called in to do a mental health assessment on a chap who had walked through a major city centre brandishing a loaded military grade crossbow and pointing it at people, threatening to shoot them. He was bailed within six hours of arrest and was rearrested three weeks later for a much more serious offence. That same week I also dealt with a kid who had been caught smoking some marijuana and during the search they found a fishing knife in his coat pocket, and he ended up in a young offender’s institute.

Often there is no parity in these things. The reasons are actually quite simple; the system is open to interpretation by the Crown Prosecution Service. The CPS is basically a solicitor upstairs in the Police station (or at home by a fax machine and phone after 5pm – CPS direct). The police present charges and the results of a first interview, the CPS decides whether more questions need to be asked and if so what for a second interview and so on. In the end he/she makes a decision based on whether hypothetically if they took this case to court, could they secure a conviction (this person doesn’t actually prosecute – it is a hypothetical exercise essentially), that is how charge / bail/ no further action decisions are made. This person is as fallible as anyone else, and as prone to mistakes. Also you can never discount the possibility that an idiot is today’s CPS. There are guidelines (extensive ones actually), but again very much open to interpretation.

 

[Jiggs]

The irony is that the longer sentence was given to maintain confidence in the justice system - i.e. if you lie in court then you're guaranteed to do at least a few years inside.