News 2020
PM hardens benchmark in war on judicial wimpery
In a surprise move today, the Prime Minister denied that the Government was excessively lenient on criminality, and announced a new package of shake-ups to "expunge from existence the last traces of judicial quislingism" in the war on legal softitude.
The tough new measures will include a Public Reassurance Act specifying longer custodial sentences for anyone whose case is reported in the media, and will also formalise the current arrangement whereby the Home Secretary or Prime Minister can intervene to challenge any sentence they consider too short.
In what is being seen as a concession to the judiciary, the new legislation will also remove the judges' obligation to impose rigidly defined sentences for a particular crime.
"We will bring to an instant and utter termination the situation whereby a judge can be forced to impose a low sentence or a low minimum term simply because the law says he or she must," the Prime Minister said.
His remarks were a response to accusations by opposition leader Boris Johnson that the Government had "let paedophiles run rampant through the streets of England".
Mr Johnson condemned the Government for failing to stop police intervention in a spontaneous demonstration led by Sun editor Biankah Woad. The 27 demonstrators and 29 journalists were about to perform a "citizens' hanging" on a suspected future paedophile whose name and address Ms Woad had obtained from his classmates at her local Ronald Macdonald Primary School.
Non-custodial citizen sentencings have been permitted under the last fourteen Criminal Justice Acts to be passed since 2010, but the death penalty is defined as "to be used as far as possible absolutely only when necessary".
The Home Office says this is a safeguard against misuse of the law by lynch mobs, but Mr Johnson has accused the Government of "pandering to the spirit of the Human Rights Act", which Britain unilaterally abolished as part of its continuing journey to the heart of Europe.
In a surprise move today, the Prime Minister denied that the Government was excessively lenient on criminality, and announced a new package of shake-ups to "expunge from existence the last traces of judicial quislingism" in the war on legal softitude.
The tough new measures will include a Public Reassurance Act specifying longer custodial sentences for anyone whose case is reported in the media, and will also formalise the current arrangement whereby the Home Secretary or Prime Minister can intervene to challenge any sentence they consider too short.
In what is being seen as a concession to the judiciary, the new legislation will also remove the judges' obligation to impose rigidly defined sentences for a particular crime.
"We will bring to an instant and utter termination the situation whereby a judge can be forced to impose a low sentence or a low minimum term simply because the law says he or she must," the Prime Minister said.
His remarks were a response to accusations by opposition leader Boris Johnson that the Government had "let paedophiles run rampant through the streets of England".
Mr Johnson condemned the Government for failing to stop police intervention in a spontaneous demonstration led by Sun editor Biankah Woad. The 27 demonstrators and 29 journalists were about to perform a "citizens' hanging" on a suspected future paedophile whose name and address Ms Woad had obtained from his classmates at her local Ronald Macdonald Primary School.
Non-custodial citizen sentencings have been permitted under the last fourteen Criminal Justice Acts to be passed since 2010, but the death penalty is defined as "to be used as far as possible absolutely only when necessary".
The Home Office says this is a safeguard against misuse of the law by lynch mobs, but Mr Johnson has accused the Government of "pandering to the spirit of the Human Rights Act", which Britain unilaterally abolished as part of its continuing journey to the heart of Europe.
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