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When sentencing goes wrong

Brian

Brian

Eating fat, staying slim
All I can say is 8 years 10 months is nowhere near enough for this utter moron. Beyond that, I don’t really have the words.

Mobile phone records showed Majury, of Milton Road in Coppull, Chorley, had been using his mobile phone throughout his journey on 8 January 2019, sending texts, making calls, using sports apps, opening a medieval fantasy game and finally scouring Facebook while behind the wheel.
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Facebook-checking HGV driver jailed over double fatal crash

Source: BBC
 
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He will probably be released on license after spending half of the those 8 years and 10 months in prison. They all have life sentences, but the HGV drivers selfish actions has needlessly caused such misery.

Mobile phone use behind the driving wheel needs to be enforced and penalised like drink-driving. Anyone caught needs to get an immediate ban of say 3-6 months for a first time offence. That will make people think about it. If caught again, 1-2 years ban and for 3 times + you lose your license for at least 10 years.

Out on my bike cycling, I see a large number of people using mobile phones whilst driving. The majority are young female drivers at traffic lights, in slow moving traffic and the like with the phone down between their legs. More enforcement and punishment is badly needed - the present £200 fine and 6 penalty points is not sufficient for people not to take the risks.
 
It's crazy, even in an old car you can get a bluetooth voice controlled box for peanuts to make calls.

Hardest part is putting on an appropriate Chinese interpretation of an American accent to get recognised.
 
In the days when I was involved in criminal acts I always advised clients accused of death by dangerous that if found guilty they'd go down for around seven years, so to me the sentence looks right.
That said, the maximum is 14 years, and the driver's conduct should have taken him to near the limit.
 
If anyone thinks the sentence range for any offence is wrong - canvass your MP to have it changed.
 
You're right Cav - and I'm not being sarcastic, you're plain old right. But, there may be many things we think aren't quite right but we're busy and we don't have time to petition our MP's. Besides, many people would need to address the same point. We have an expectation that the state will get these things right. I find it very hard to imagine that many sane people will think the sentence in this case in any way reflects the loss of life. Would it be an acceptable sentence if it were your family deceased?
 
dweezil said:
It's crazy, even in an old car you can get a bluetooth voice controlled box for peanuts to make calls.

Hardest part is putting on an appropriate Chinese interpretation of an American accent to get recognised.
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Like the HGV driver in this case, I think allot of these mobile phone users are checking/interacting on social media and text messages etc. They are not interested in bluetooth calling hands-free.
 
Bob McC said:
Mobile phone use whilst at the wheel should see a Life ban for the first offence.

Or do people think you only kill children after a couple of convictions?
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I don't see that thinking ever being enforced. Even in this horrific loss of life case, the HGV driver is only banned from driving for 10 years.

We desperately need to to get a strong deterrent message out there "If you use your mobile phone whilst driving your car, you will lose your license". There has to be no leniency for loss of income etc. like so many use to hopefully not be banned for excessive speeding. No excuses.
 
Thorn said:
In the days when I was involved in criminal acts I always advised clients accused of death by dangerous that if found guilty they'd go down for around seven years, so to me the sentence looks right.
That said, the maximum is 14 years, and the driver's conduct should have taken him to near the limit.
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As you state, the sentence should have started off at or near the 14 years limit. 5 years and 2 months off for an early guilty please looks lenient to me in view of his actions?
 
An absolute disgrace that a man will serve only a few years for taking the lives of a child and a women, then again our whole judiciary system is a disgrace.
The sentence should have been much much longer and a life ban on driving at a minimum. If it was my son he had killed he wouldn't survive 24 hrs after release.
 
Ginger said:
You're right Cav - and I'm not being sarcastic, you're plain old right. But, there may be many things we think aren't quite right but we're busy and we don't have time to petition our MP's. Besides, many people would need to address the same point. We have an expectation that the state will get these things right. I find it very hard to imagine that many sane people will think the sentence in this case in any way reflects the loss of life. Would it be an acceptable sentence if it were your family deceased?
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If none of the sane people who you say don't agree with all of this say nothing, nothing will change.

It is for the lawmakers to set the punishment. The Government has to option to ask for a review of unduly lenient sentences. The "what if it were your family" argument is hackneyed and irrelevant. Darren L above would have him executed, for example.
 
Darren L said:
An absolute disgrace that a man will serve only a few years for taking the lives of a child and a women, then again our whole judiciary system is a disgrace.
The sentence should have been much much longer and a life ban on driving at a minimum. If it was my son he had killed he wouldn't survive 24 hrs after release.
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These are hard things to balance. As a society, our Judicial system is setup for rehabilitation in all be the most heinous of crimes. Long sentences are not always the answer, but they do have a place. Similarly, a life ban on driving would allow for no rehabilitation. As Gandhi said, an eye-for-an-eye would leave the world blind.

Rehabilitation is the key. If offenders are not willing to proactively do this, there should be no time-off sentences etc. Similarly, the Courts need to come down hard on repeat offenders, especially those who are out on license. It is depressing the number of times I read that Joe Blogs has offended whilst out on license and he is not returned to prison to see out his original sentence AND additional time for the new offence. This is where the system fails and let's down the other 95% law abiding general public.
 
Stuart Frazer said:
These are hard things to balance. As a society, our Judicial system is setup for rehabilitation in all be the most heinous of crimes. Long sentences are not always the answer, but they do have a place. Similarly, a life ban on driving would allow for no rehabilitation. As Gandhi said, an eye-for-an-eye would leave the world blind.

Rehabilitation is the key. If offenders are not willing to proactively do this, there should be no time-off sentences etc. Similarly, the Courts need to come down hard on repeat offenders, especially those who are out on license. It is depressing the number of times I read that Joe Blogs has offended whilst out on license and he is not returned to prison to see out his original sentence AND additional time for the new offence. This is where the system fails and let's down the other 95% law abiding general public.
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I understand and appreciate all of the above but our Judicial systems are flawed and failing.
 
The sentence was probably about right and fairly typical of sentences handed down for causing death by dangerous driving. Nothing will bring back the people he killed but this will pretty much ruin his life too. He’ll never drive in any professional capacity again and will find it difficult to find any work which pays above minimum wage/ZHC going forward.

I can understand the temptation to call for life sentences etc but what will it achieve? Does anyone think anyone involved in say the Grenfell disaster will serve any time at all? I don’t.
 
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