Oh come off it Belly.

I couldn't open the silly link either, so I was just commenting on Individual's comments.
You can't say he ever shows respect for others, but you are right, maybe I shouldn't come down to his level.

I can't bear the thought of vigilantism , which appears to be what Individual advocates, and the constant putting down of anyone who has been to university.

Suseonline,
you don't approve of the offers for solutions put forward so how about offering some yourself for a change ? What do you think is needed ?
How would you go about curbing increasing crime & corruption ? What do you think is needed to curb the criminal waste in the public service ?
Do you think the CMC was a good thing ? If so, please tell us.

Individual, like you, I am no expert on criminal law, and unless we are actually in the court room, or able to read the full trial transcript, I doubt we can understand the full stories behind these trials.

Of course I get as upset as the next person if I think a miscarriage of justice has occurred, but I think the Judiciary have only the current laws and sentencing made available to them to use.

Maybe it is the politicians that need to update these laws?
Certainly, the lawyers should be able to use past crimes committed by the accused, during any current trial.
If that had happened before Jill Maher's rape and murder, then it have no doubt she would be alive today.

But only the Parliament can enact laws, so it is them we should be angry at.

Suseonline,
thank you for replying but what would you instigate to curb it all ? My solution is non-military national service & flat tax. No teacher enters the class room without serving national service first.

Suseonline, "Certainly, the lawyers should be able to use past crimes committed by the accused, during any current trial"

I want all cases cleared and all criminals behind bars and preferably, working their butts off to earn their own keep. However what you suggest opens the door for all sorts of abuses, including the very obvious abuse of the information by the jurors who are supposed to be examining evidence and finding fact, not presuming guilt.

The accused either gets a fair trial or s/he doesn't. The rules of evidence have evolved through continuous, rigorous examination by highly trained and disciplined legal minds. Even so, there are innocent people in gaol, for example as proved by later DNA evidence, and of course there are criminals who have managed to avoid conviction, or even being identified.

The very best we can do is have a highly trained, professional police force, and not waste police resources on PC B.S, traffic, and other time-wasting exercises as we presently do. Courts need to be managed efficiently too (not much hope of that).

Read Bleak House by Charles Dickens. Over one hundred years ago the judiciary were taking longer and longer until all funds were exhausted by them.
Fifty years ago a murder trial would take a week now it takes a year. Simple answer, Parliament sets legal fees for every crime. Result lawyers would be finished at the doors of the court.
I find it quite disgusting that sleazy fraudulent lawyers operate with impunity. Molesting children and stealing our money. The law does not belong to lawyers it belongs to us and we have to reclaim it.
If they do not like that they will have to find another living.