Musings and Snippets from a recently retired JP. I served for 31 years, mostly in west London. I was Chairman of my Bench for some years, and a member of the National Bench Chairmen's Forum All cases are based on real ones, but anonymised and composited. All opinions are those of one or more individuals. JPs swear to enforce the law of the land, whether or not they approve of it. Nothing on here constitutes legal advice.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Suppressio Veri, Suggestio Falsi Again
I have already made my views clear on the subject of sentencing drivers who have killed someone. Today's papers (and it's my fault for being such an avid reader, I know)are full of stuff like the Mail's headline. The driver concerned got 18 months. He will, as the law prescribes, have received a third off his sentence for his plea of guilty. He will also, as the law prescribes, be released at the halfway point of his sentence - just like everyone else - so he will serve 9 months. But he has already served a lot of time in custody pending sentence, a fact that the papers choose to ignore, so that they can trumpet that he will be 'out in four months' or whatever. Now there is a perfectly legitimate argument that his sentence was or was not appropriate. I am just depressed that the press have again resorted to deliberate distortion of the facts to make the story a bit more sensational.
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