Gary Dobson and David Norris, the Stephen Lawrence killers, are entitled to the human right to the vote. Even if they would probably vote for the BNP. I noticed that it took Doreen and Neville Lawrence the same amount of time, 18 years, as it took the Birmingham 6 to get justice. Whilst I can understand the need to treat juveniles as such, there was the absurd situation when the Jamie Bulger killers were tried as adults, Dobson and Norris are clearly adults even though the offence occured when they were teenagers, therefore they should get Life with a 25 years tariff instead of only a 12 years tariff.
R v Gary Dobson and David Norris sentencing remarks by trial judge.
I hope Denise Fergus looks at the sentence Dobson and Norris are likely to get and stop banging on about how low the sentence for Thompson and Venables was (given they were barely at the age of criminal responsibility when they committed the crime and had the crime happened 6 months earlier they wouldn't have faced prosecution). The dignity of the Lawrences contrasted with Denise Fergus's tabloid posturing shows her up to be the media hungry, nasty piece of work she is.
ReplyDeleteBig love and respect to Neville and Doreen Lawrence who have faced the past 18 years with dignity and grace.
14 and 15 years seems about right given the sentencing restrictions. Again, the Lawrences showed remarkable composure. There were no diatribes against British justice - they thanked the judge. Agree that it shows people like Denise Fergus up in a very poor light by comparison. Justice versus blind vengeance.
ReplyDeleteAs for the treating kids as juveniles v adults; the court process (i.e. prosecution) treats juveniles as adults for serious crimes; they are then sentenced as juveniles. Obviously what happened with the Bulger killers at crown court was a disgrace but their penalty (8 years in a nurturing secure environment rather than prison) was fair in my opinion.
I agree that as they are now adults and they have lived with the knowledge that they have committed a terrible crime throughout their adulthood they should be tried as adults. It was horrible teenagers that committed the crime but adults who didn't face up to the responsibility of it.
ReplyDelete