It seems everyone has narrow minds.
It takes abroad mind to see there is no inconsistancy when people get different sentences for the same crime.
Circumstances are as different as there are leaves in a forest. No crime is exactly the same.
Why can't people see that. They do not search into the hearst of humanity and passion.
All they see is the statute books, page 657, paragragh 42, line 2c.
How silly.
Long hard jail sentences on the head of Man does not stop people committing crimes.
This was learned by the kings of England in the 18th century.
Giving 100 lashes to men who stole a loaf of bread meant that next time they will steal two loaves, until the kings ships had to leave Engand with so many convicts that they populated the world.
Yes, we are going back to the 18th century in the name of being modern.

It is Western Governments (using their overbearing force) that have made the UN a joke Plerdsus. 192 countries have called for a ceasfire - only 3 haven't - and guess what - these countries (USA, UK and Isreal) are marked by their dogmatic use of violence and overwhelming fire power. Being the most 'forceful' - only makes you the biggest bully. Ultimately (as mankind discovered through the painful years of slavery abolition) the greatest and most admirable display of human strength is peaceful resistence to brute force.

On other levels, these "people" (US and British politicians) would be charged for armed robbery. Using lables like "state", "sovereign", etc - do not hide the facts of their actions - mere words to fool some people - but quite obviously, right around the world (including neutral countries), not most of the people. The US and the UK are exposed for their greed and violence. The sooner we can distance ourselves from complicity the better.

Steve Madden wrote .....<<We need decent legal aid, victim impact statements and rehabilitation for prisoners not grids. Mirko under your grid the HIH criminals would walk free (while they earn $5 billion to repay society). Our system is not perfect but yours would be worse.>>

I agree with most of what Steve says about needing a far better legal aid - but victim impact statements shoud really determine the severity of the crime - and the punishment. The more the victim(s) is/are impacted, then the more severe the punishment should be.

However I totally disagree with his assumption that the HIH thieves would walk away free under this system.

After all they were charged with stealing the money of how many people and got away with it now? Now if they were charged with the individual stealing of every individual persons money AND the sentence was a compulsory accumulative sentence, rather than a concurrent one .... then we would see some justice

K£vin,

I am glad you agree with me that the UN is a joke. It would be wonderful if the lion could lie down with the lamb, but that only happens in fantasies, not real life. When terrorists attack you, you either reply in turn or go under. Considering that current revival in religion (no doubt due to the increasing uncertainty of life) the current buzzphrase could be the one spoken by Chaplain Howell Forgy at Pearl Harbor in 1941 when the crew were manually taking shells to the guns on the battleship New Orleans:

"Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition".

If you think that the current struggle in the Middle East is going to be solved peacefully you must live in cloud cuckoo land. It could extend to become a war between the West and the whole muslim world. We are closer to nuclear war than we have ever been.

Israel is our ally, and Hezbollah is the enemy.

Each day the UN is looking more and more like the League of Nations.

With India having the same voting power as Nauru it has never been remotely democratic.

Thank heavens we have a sea boundary.

It is time the pendulum swung back to real life sentences. With some modification. Perhaps we could have sentencing by numbers. No.1 could be treason, premeditated murder, rape and child molestation. Death by injection. No appeal.
No2, a lesser crime but still bad,20 years with no parole, no remission for deliberate crimes against persons.
And so on ,lesser crime could have parole or remission but never the first two.
Then every one would know where they stood and it wouldn't matter if judges were bleeding hearts or hearts of stone.
That crime would get that penalty. That is very clear and just.

Mickijo,

I personally have a few problems with your sentencing structure(s)

1. It is all well and good being convicted of treachery and treason, however, what would you call a turncoat who betrayed his country to another – and was then given sanctuary in the country? …. Would you then demand he be returned for his execution? I am sure the god almighty Americans would demand …. But would they also acquiesce a return of a traitor?

2…Rape is also another highly contentious issue, for there are many rapes which turn out to be somewhat a matter of matter of vexatious petty revenge for some imagined slight. Yes – there are many pack rapes as well as some vicious rapes, and these really need to be addressed, but who would be Solomon …. And separate them in degrees? Surely you would not have them all lumped into one mass crime of similar disparity?

3. Would child molestation be treated the same as child bashing occasioning severe physical trauma? How would you judge the difference –or severity for that matter? Why now do we see that women getting laughable sentences compared to male offenders? We now see that a woman has been charged with sexual offences against a girl over a period of two years – it will be very interesting to see what kind of sentence she attracts for her crime.

Personally I have no problem with an intentional murderer being done away with – but once again, it would have to be proven without doubt!! After all they had no compunction killing another person, so I would have no compunction finishing his also.

4. OK – Now violence against a person is usually not much in question and should be addressed as such. But again, how would you define domestic violence? Keep well in mind, despite cries to the contrary, domestic violence is almost 50/50.

It is as one poster says, not an easy task, because each person commits a different type of crime, for a different reason