Stories like this, in which a judge recalled two drug dealers for sentencing because they bragged on Facebook and were abusive about her, will bring a smile to most police officers' faces. In fact, I would hazard a guess it was the officer in the case who highlighted this, unless the judge happened to be friends with the males.
My question is, should your sentence go from two years in jail (a healthy chunk of time for most adults), to zero, just because you told the court you were sorry? Justice Lunt originally suspended the sentences due to the contrition shown. She overturned it because that contrition was proved false.
Of all of the factors in an offence, especially one like drug-dealing which requires some forethought, I would have thought contrition would be the least relevant to sentencing.
Daniel and Samuel Sneddon. Oops.
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'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.
Depends on what you think the point of sentencing is, I suppose. Punishment? Sorrow is irrelevant, you get punished for what you did. Rehabilitation? The purpose of the sentence is to make you a good member of society, and if your remorse means you've already achieved that goal, then there's no point going to jail at all.
ReplyDeleteNow, whether judges are rather too easily convinced of remorse, that's another question.