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Aneirin -> RE: Reality versus Theory (3/16/2008 4:12:12 PM)
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Ok, in reply to kittinsol, no, it is not a conspiracy, it is fact, the victims of crime in this country are getting very dissatisfied with the criminal justice system. More and more is it seen that the victim of a crime is totally disregarded, as if they are unimportant.
When a crime occurs to an individual, there are various bodies that help that victim deal with the trauma of what has happened, help them through the judicial process etc. I was last told, that there were some fifteen seperate organisations set up to help the criminal and their family, the majority of them public funded.Now for the victim exists 'victim support', a service staffed largely by volunteers, as this organisation is funded by charity donations.
Now, a victim can apply for compensation for their trauma, this takes the form of the 'Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2001', I said apply, because it is not just given, a victim has to apply and complete numerous sets of paperwork, prove their injuries and then wait eighteen months or more until they receive a decision, loss of life paying a standard amount of £11, 000 and each other claimant receiving £5,500. You will agree these paltry sums are hardly going to be of much use in a situation where some little bored yobbo and his mates kick a father to death for being asked to stop doing what they are doing.
Oh and in most cases, a criminal facing court gets legal aid to pay for their defence,depending on the severity of their offence, this may include a barrister. The victim, if working, is generally not in a position to afford legal representation, and because they are working, are not entitled to legal aid , which incidently is paid for by the tax payer.
And so we get back to criminals and the laws set up to deter them. The criminal system in this country is weighted against the victim.Criminals found guilty of cold blooded murder, are out of jail within seven years or so, this might be to do with the prisons being full and in demand for all the new laws created to criminalise people since the end of the tory era. Tax dodgers etc, hardly a threat to society, but the law is keen to chuck them in the slammer whilst giving violent individuals community service, thus showing that if you piss the crown off, in you go, but crime against a person, well, they'll get over it, total lack of interest for the common man in the street.
The common man in the street, is the voter, voting has dropped, people are losing interest, what is set up to serve them supposedly is increasingly failing to do so. If you are a normal working, or indeed unemployed man in the street, things may happen, crime committed and largely it goes unreported because people think, just what is the point, criminals get off charges then come back to harrass the complainant and witnesses, terrorise.
Well, these are my thoughts, the law is ineffective, the punishment equaly ineffective, the police largely ineffective, if you don't have money,or status you are largely nothing in the eyes of the law, except cash cows to keep the powerful in power.
Those I was referring to as touchy feely ivory tower dwellers, are people who through a better standard of living, largely do not have to live in the towns and estates like the vast majority of the population, they have not a clue what the reality is, and probably don't want to know, because they know it all already, why, they advise the law makers.
I do not advocate a mob rule scenario, but what I would like is more attention to be paid to the people actually in the firing line, not the statisticians and theorists.
If you don't believe me, as to how things are in the UK with crime and all that, why not ask a victim of crime, as they have been through it all and there know.
Until you have experienced, you know nothing.
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