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Great non-judicial punishments of our time

Tuesday, July 01, 2008
(I have decided to forego a 'what I did on my holidays' post, although I might post a photo of the tomb of the Cid in Burgos cathedral.)

Rather disgustingly, Japanese tourists have taken to scrawling their names on the walls of the Duomo in Florence. So far, so hum drum, however a miscreant having been fingered, his employer sprang into action:

"The school's headmaster apologised for the teacher's ''inconsiderate behaviour'' and said he had already been dismissed as school baseball coach as a result of the incident".

Mockery to one side, in parallel circumstances I doubt that the average school head in these parts would do anything more than shrug his or her shoulders.

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The Britons thinking 42 days detention without trial is just way too liberal

Thursday, June 26, 2008
They want torture. Four per cent of those polled want torture to be generally allowed. Yes, really. 16% like the idea of putting thumbscrews to 'terrorists' (and how will they know that they are, eh?), while the remainder are against torture full stop.

The UK's 82% opposition is equalled in Spain and France, but it falls to 53% in the Land of the Free. And I thought Americans actually read their constitution - the 8th Amendment, perhaps?

On the other side of the coin, majorities think torture of terrorists is just fine - Turkey (52%), Nigeria (54%), South Korea (51%) and India (59%). All of those countries are signatories to the UN Convention on Torture, although India has not ratified it. Iran, a non-party, is 43% anti, and 36% pro. So 21% of them are mouth breathers that have never heard of SAVAK.

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Don't believe it....

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
From Hansard:

Mr. Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the value was of goods stolen from police stations in (a) North Yorkshire, (b) West Yorkshire, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) the East Riding of Yorkshire in each of the last three years. [208647]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 5 June 2008]: The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.


What McNulty means is that Greenacre's Finest are far too embarrassed to admit to any such larceny.... Also, given that Evans is an MP for somewhere on the other side of the Pennines, might he have been seeking to make mock?

Not worth a new post, so I will add that I am appalled, disgusted, incandescent etc etc that the confectionery products known as biscuits are being referred to - in Hansard - by a linguistic fifth columnist as cookies. Yes they are. Philip Ian "Phil" Hope, for it is he, represents Corby in Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom, rather than somewhere nestling in the Appalachians. Grr. As they are soi disant 'fair trade' products, it can be assumed that they taste like militant cardboard, so he's welcome to them.

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Was it really worth the effort?

Monday, June 02, 2008
The Met is rather pleased with its use of the Proceeds of Crime Act to target a Wandsworth dealer, taking his stash, his cash and sundry other items. I have misgivings about the powers enabling confiscation of property unless the targeted person can prove the property was not paid for out of funds raised by nefarious activities, and have vented - at length - about it before.

In that case, the Her Majesty's Finest got their mitts on well over half a million pounds worth of goods. This time it is a matter of maybe £2500, and while I will agree that a plasma TV, a brace of bikes and games consoles have clear resale values, they went that little bit further and decided to grab his collection of baseball caps and trainers. At this stage I will, narrowly, resist the temptation to make a facetious comment about impairing someone's ability to make a living by confiscating the tools of his trade. A quick examination of ebay listings for used baseball caps shows that they do not go for a great deal of money - a few quid, mainly. Trainers might be a different kettle of fish, but if used, I doubt it. Always supposing the Met entrusts listing of the items to an ebay wiz, and maximises the profit on selling the items, will that be a good use of police time and money? The whole business smacks rather more of spite than justice, frankly.

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Equality before the law, Spanish style

Thursday, May 15, 2008
The punishment for a crime, subject to mitigation, should be identical where the crimes are identical, yes?

Not in Spain:

"The Constitutional Court has approved the controversial Gender Violence Law, which allows judges to impose harsher sentences on men convicted of domestic violence against their partners than a woman would face for the same crime".

Clearly the average man has greater physical strength than the average woman, but a broken nose is a broken nose is a broken nose, whether inflicted by Carmen or by Don José.

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Sentence construction...

Wednesday, April 23, 2008
From the Met:

"A 48-year-old man has been sentenced to life for killing a man as he lay in bed at home".

Could have been phrased more clearly, I think....

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Loving one's 'job' just a little too much

Friday, March 14, 2008
From ANSA:

"A pregnant Croatian burglar fell from a balcony in northern Italy on Thursday and gave birth. Police said the woman, 26, lost her footing as she was trying to clamber into an apartment and fell from a height of 12 feet. Rushed to hospital, she was treated for bruises and soon after gave birth to a boy".

She should still get nicked, shouldn't she?

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Unexpected legal rulings of our time

Monday, March 10, 2008
In a Jarndyce v Jarndyce of a legal process, 17 years after charges were filed, Imelda Marcos, the envy of women everywhere for her awesome collection of shoes, has been cleared of graft.

Yes, she has: "Passing the court's ruling Judge Silvino Pampino said there was insufficient evidence to convict the former first lady of 32 counts of illegal money transfers abroad during Ferdinand Marcos' 20-year rule. "This court cannot in all conscience convict the accused on the basis of mere hearsay and on the basis of documents which were not authenticated and proved in the proper manner."

I will assume that Pampino is the Lord Coke of Filipino jurisprudence, rather than having had his arm twisted.

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Fun with statistics

Thursday, January 31, 2008
Part of a staggeringly complacent statement from Vernon 'hokey' Coaker:

"Homicide remains thankfully rare: the number of homicides has fallen from 769 in 2005/06 to 757 in 2006/07 with the risk of being a victim of homicide one in 13.7 million".

First off, that fall is statistically insignificant, and hardly worth trumpeting as a fall. And secondly, where did he get that figure of 1 in 13.7m from? Let us say that the population is roughly 60m, because it is. I make 60m / 757 a 1 in 79000 chance. Still not ideal odds, admittedly, but rather better than those for Russian Roulette. Unless I have got something horribly wrong, Big Vern seems to think the UK's population is 10.3 billion, or roughly that of the world, and half again. No wonder it is murder getting a seat on the train.

(Meanwhile, Big Vern's website visitors are a dim lot - asked whether 'Cannabis be reclassified from a class C drug to a class B drug', an impressive 31% thought it was worth clicking 'not sure'....)

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A pol in even hotter soup than Hain

Thursday, January 24, 2008
Governor Antonio Leviste of Batanagas in the Philippines (On Luzon island, and not that far from Manila, and not to be confused with Bataan, of death march fame) is ruing his fortune at the moment:

"This is the saddest moment of my life. My life has suffered so much. My family, my daughter Toni has to cancel her international commitments in equestrian [sports]. Media has been so unkind to me. The Department of Justice has been unkind to me. I suffered the most". The report notes he 'appeared emotional'. Thank you Field Marshall Obvious....

It sounds like woe is him, does it not? And what has he done to be suffering this laundry list of horrors? He is on trial for shooting one of his aides, repeatedly, but in self-defence he claims. Apparently the victim, Rafael de las Alas, took umbrage that Leviste would not front some P1000000 (£12500) to support the aide's two mistresses. Some bosses are so lacking in compassion.


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Friends in high places?

Thursday, November 22, 2007
"Commissioner Sir Ian Blair has won a vote of confidence by members of the Metropolitan Police Authority...Fifteen members of the MPA supported Sir Ian, seven voted against him and there was one abstention". Source

There are 23 members of the MPA, broken down to Chairman, deputy chairmen/women, Assembly members, 'independent' members and magistrate members. Alas there is no information as to who voted which way, but given that both Livingstone and the government support Blair, it seems a tad unlikely that Labour members would vote for his head.

So:

The Chairman - Len Duvall - Chair of the Greater London Labour Party

The Deputies

Reshard Auladin (magistrate)
Cindy Butts - 'Independent'. But she has applied for at least one Labour party candidacy.

Assembly members -

Tony Arbour (C)
Jennette Arnold (L)
Richard Barnes (C)
Dee Doocey (LD)
Nicky Gavron (L)
Damian Hockney (One London)
Elizabeth Howlett (C)
Jenny Jones (Green...)
Bob Neill (C)
Joanne McCartney (L)
Graham Tope (LD)

The 'Independent' members

Faith Boardman - Long-time taker of the State's shilling.

Toby Harris - "Toby Harris was appointed by the Home Secretary as his nominee on the Metropolitan Police Authority in July 2004. He was an elected member of the London Assembly, representing Brent and Harrow, and the Leader of the Labour Group on the GLA from 2000 to 2004". (And, incidentally, nearly decapitated by my good friend David in council elections some years back).

Kirsten Hearn - google away. I'm not saying a mumbling word.

Peter Herbert - I am pretty sure he has applied for Labour seats too, but the law of defamation being what is, I will caveat that I cannot find the evidence. Further digging came up with this: "Candidates [for the Labour party in Brent South] are believed to include Society of Black Lawyers chairman Peter Herbert"

Karim Murji - Not a lot that can be discovered about him beyond his MPA biography

John Roberts - Ditto

At the risk of being naive, I will give the magistrates the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are all political eunuchs.

So, all in all, is anyone surprised by the way the vote turned out?

As a footnote, having got part way through this I turned up links to Yorkshire Ranter, who has been investigating this issue too.



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Keep ALL of your receipts, FOREVER

Friday, November 16, 2007
And keep photocopies in a bank deposit box and e-mail scans to a webmail account too.

Otherwise, the State might decide it is going to take away your property.

And why this alarmist approach? Because of this:

"ARA secures order to recover assets of acquitted Essex (1) drug dealer".

And further, "The Assets Recovery Agency has secured a civil recovery order in the High Court in London against Fabian Jackson of Moray Road, Hackney ((1)which as an E8 postcode has not been part of God's Own County since 1899, but never let the facts stand in the way of the Government defaming Essex, eh?) , to recover in the region of £628,000 worth of assets. In its case against Mr Jackson, aged 31, the Agency alleged that his assets were obtained through unlawful conduct, namely drug dealing, money laundering and mortgage fraud that had resulted in a significant portfolio of assets. Mr Jackson has previous convictions for possessing Class A and B drugs with intent to supply and has not been in receipt of any apparent legitimate income from any employment since leaving school at 16".

.....

"Mr Jackson was acquitted following a criminal trial. The Met police referred the case to the Agency which obtained an Interim Receiver's Order in October 2003. The Agency then launched its claim for civil recovery in December 2004. However, Mr Jackson refuted (given what follows, not exactly the mot juste. C) the Agency's claims, asserting that his assets were gained through legitimate business ranging from trading on Internet auction site, EBay, to clothing and shoe sales and property letting. Following a lengthy hearing in the High Court, Mr Justice King rejected Mr Jackson's claims, concluding that Mr Jackson's legitimate business trading was "wholly lacking in credibility."

Presumably Mr Justice King was correct in finding Jackson's claims "wholly lacking in credibility", but the raw fact is that Jackson having been acquitted in a criminal court has then had the full panoply of the law pursue him on a second basis. The principle of double jeopardy exists as a defence in many jurisdiction and is a constitutional right in some, and while that is in connection with repeated criminal trials, the effect of the Met having two bites of the cherry amounts to the man being punished through forfeiture of goods having been acquitted in a criminal trial. It is a long time since I studied law, but certain principle of legal philosophy and the like have stuck with me, and to my mind the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 - under which Jackson was pursued - is a jurisprudential abomination.

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A nation of shoplifters

Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Highlights of the Global Retail Theft Barometer have been put online, and surprise, surprise the UK has the highest level of 'retail shrinkage' in Europe, at an estimated $7.6 billion. This equates to 1.34% of total retail sales, and the figures are up, admittedly marginally, from last year. So much for falling crime.

In more general terms, "The most-stolen items of retail merchandise within the 32 countries included branded and expensive products: cosmetics and skincare, alcohol, womenswear/ladies' apparel, perfume and fine fragrances, and designerwear. Other highly stolen lines included razor blades, DVDs/CDs, video games and video consoles, small electric items, and fashion accessories".

I can remember when you could still pick up packs of razor blades, rather than pieces of card, and take them to the till....


Globally, being a shopkeeper in India cannot be much fun, with 'leakage' - includes staff theft, vendor theft etc - at 2.9% of sales, although this is down from last year. As one would hope, the Swiss are among the least bad at 0.96%, although that is up 4.3% on the year. Iceland's figures dropped 6.4%, so maybe Reykjavik's Finest collared a few of the worst offenders.

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Having your cake, but not eating it.

Friday, November 09, 2007
Hurling confectionery still seems to be all the rage on the Continent, and a Norwegian who lobbed a layer cake at his Finance Minister has just seen his appeal go to Norway's supreme court and result in victory.

While I would not pretend to have an insider's knowledge of Norwegian law, it is a codified civil law system, and sticking my neck way out, I imagine has a law on assault and battery. However, the Norwegian powers that be decided to prosecute the cake flinger for the following: "violating Paragraph 99, hindering a cabinet member from carrying out their duty by the use of violence, threats or other illegal means". And for this the penalty was to be a stay at the Big House, as was threatened for the man who threw a raspberry tart at Ségolène Royal, although he ended up with a €150 fine.

The prosecution was thrown out because Waagaard (yes, 4 'a's) was deemed to have lacked the intent to delay the finance minister, although she had to shower, change etc. Back in the 80s when throwing eggs at cabinet ministers was all the rage, our politicians carried on regardless. I don't recall Prescott calling off his speech after he was egged by the Mullet Man of Rhyl either.

Meanwhile, a naughty Swede who launched a cream cake at the King of Sweden in 2001 was tackled by security goons and had his welfare enquired after by the King. Rather sadly, Carl Gustaf does not style himself 'med Guds Nåde Sveriges, Götes och Wendes Konung, Dei Gratia Suecorum, Gothorum et Vandalorum Rex' in the time honoured manner.

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Something to bear in mind the next time you are told crime is down

Thursday, November 01, 2007
"The [British Crime Survey] does not cover commercial victimisation, e.g. thefts from businesses and shops, and frauds".

Yes, really. There it is on page 19 of the British Crime Survey. Note also that in the same paragraph it "excludes crimes termed as victimless (e.g. possession of drugs) and, as a victim
based survey, murders are not included". So a publication with the Home Office's logo regards drugs crime as victimless.

I have been looking at the statistics on drug use the BCS has made up available, and might do something with those later, but in the meantime note that it only asks people below the age of 60 if they have ever taken drugs (and no one would lie to someone who says 'I'm here from the government', would they?) , and therefore would exclude, inter alia, the founders of the Rolling Stones, the remaining Beatles and folk who were 21 during the Summer of Love.

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Elected judges NOW.

Monday, October 22, 2007
A sad tale from my neck of the woods: a 97 year old man was left blind in one eye following an unprovoked assault on a Croydon tram, the event being captured on CCTV. And what did the assailant get at Croydon Crown Court for GBH? A three year supervision order.

Not happy.

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Carry one of these, and Ian Blair thinks you should be off to the Big House

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Met's site has a report of a generally sensible speech by Ian Blair, much of which deals with the fettering of the police's discretion by legislation and the mountains of paperwork required for even minor offences.

However, towards the end he comes up with this piece of silliness:

"I repeat that I am not asking that everyone who carries a knife goes to prison. I also know that there must be exceptions, such as foreign travellers transiting Heathrow, but what I want to see is that everyone who carries a knife or other offensive weapon on the streets of London knows they are at risk of going to prison because they will be appearing in front of magistrates, rather than being cautioned".

Granted, I have chosen the smallest Swiss Army knife I could find, and moreover one in electric pink, the price for which includes a donation to the Breast Cancer Campaign, but lumping all knives together - including kitchen knives, presumably is just silly. What am I bid for bored Plod intent on bumping up their arrest rates hanging around the kitchen department of Peter Jones that they might nick table knife (1) buyers once they exit to the King's Road? My point is that there are perfectly legitimate reasons for carrying knives, and the mens rea of an 'offender' has to play a role in this crime as it does with other crimes, along with the act itself. Returning to one of my favourite hobby horses, there are an awful lot of outwardly innocuous objects that lend themselves to becoming makeshift weapons - fancy having a snapped CD drawn across one's throat?

(1) While at conference I had the opportunity to see the contents of the confiscated / abandoned / forgotten case at the metal detection unit, and there were a couple of table knives there - presumably belonging to a couple intent on having a civilised picnic lunch somewhere within the confines of the Winter Gardens.

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What is *a* Governor to do?

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Consider the terrible plight of Rick Perry, Governor of Texas:

He presides over a state where support for the death penalty runs at just under 70%, judging from recent polls, and one 'Johnny Ray Conner, 32, has just (23/8) been put to death by lethal injection for the 1998 fatal shooting of a grocery store clerk.' Source

Meanwhile, the EU has a position on this, and showing its usual timeliness and competence has just published a call for halt to the execution. The EU presumes to lecture Texas thus: "The European Union is unreservedly opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and has consistently called for the universal abolition of this punishment. We believe that elimination of the death penalty is fundamental to the protection of human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights".

So, in the light of this statement also being supported by that beacon of 'human dignity', Turkey, the Governor must find himself in a terrible quandary.



Update.

I am indebted to Mr Eugenides for digging up Rick Perry's response:

"“230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”


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