16 year old sentenced to 36 years for felony robbery.

Eathrin wrote: »

I believe in punishment for people who commit crimes, 36 years is clearly excessive though.

Why do you believe in something that clearly doesn't work? Rehabilitation works far better than punitive action.

Limericks wrote: »

In Brazil, prisoners can reduce sentences four days by reading books and submitting book reports, cutting off up to 48 days each year.

A judge here tried that and said he would knock off part of a sentance if the prisioner did his leaving. He was reemed out of it.

Remember, people don't want to see a prisioner rehabilitated. And they don't want to see crime ,as a social issue, get better. What people want is to see criminals get punished and only punished. they'd prefer to see someone leave prison a career criminal, but punished rather than see a criminal turn productive.

I think it is important not to lose the point while focusing on the extreme. I haven't looked at the attached 45 minute documentary, but believe that our legal system is failing law abiding citizens in this country.

Look at the track records of many of the criminals and so called petty criminals that come to the forefront, they have multiple hideous convictions notched up, and not just 1 or 2, more like 40 plus....and are freely walking our streets propped up the welfare system.

We are failing here to address law and order, Dublin City will be absoutely savage tonight. I know so many people who will not go into town for this reason. I can't say I have felt this in many other cities that I have lived.

I believe that prisons should primarily be about rehabilition for the greater good of society as a whole but it's not open and shut. There needs to be an element of punishment in there as well. Some crimes deserve sentences which are not primarily about whether or not the time is beneficial to them.

The world needs to shed its cotton wool.

Crime needs to be punished, now "rehabilitation" or any of these absolute money sinks for tax payers. Lavish prisons, facilities, counselling, all this bollox.

There needs to be a deterant from crime, there has to be a reason for you NOT to want to commit one. An even more interesting documentary, Irish based, is the "inmate in the revolving door" who when released will look to commit a crime ASAP as the standards in the prison facility are better then anything they can achieve on their own.

Regardless of age or circumstance, crime cannot be tolerated. Especially in the current age of recession where everyone feels like they have got a bum deal and feels more pressure to commit crime, be it fraud, tax evasion or something more severe.

While we have a system far too leniant, it provides a positive risk for criminals, of any type, to act their crime. A heavy system will be a serious weight on someones head before committing the crime.