Banging up Boris?

[Pathca]

Exactly. As someone who shot to fame at the tender age of 17 - all that went with it was bound to affect him in some way or other. He's not a bad guy - and plenty of other celebrities have done pretty much the same, and got off with a large fine.
Looks like someone wants to cream this story and make an example of him, to distract from other stuff ...... ooh, wash my mouth out!!

To be fair it’s highly unlikely the people sentencing Becker have any connection with those wanting a distraction. There are sentencing guidelines and his term will fall within those,as J said as a punitive measure ,he has been done for tax evasion in the past

[Blaze]

Sentencing isn't always straightforward, hence the guidelines.
Personally, I'd rather see those who are a physical danger to the public locked up than tax evaders. People like Becker, Lester Piggott etc are punished by depriving them of their liberty, but depriving them of their money might be more punitive than taking up space in the already overcrowded prison system.

[MAD87]

I’m not really into legal philosophy, especially at the end of a hard week of holidays.

However, after observing the messy French legal system for the last 30+ years, I believe that, in general, the English system gives the flexibility necessary for any workable, fair system. It isn’t perfect by any means – no system is – but in my opinion, it’s the one that guarantees some form of overall justice. I can hear the protests from here!

It’s for the prosecution in criminal cases to prove the offence - 95% of offenders plead guilty – which may or may not involve mens rea (knowledge and/ or intention) and for the claimant to prove their claim in civil cases.

I could run on for hours but heck, it’s Saturday. The adversarial system works far better than, e.g., the French system, where your neighbour heard you battering someone to death in the bathroom, only gets questioned by the 3 judges who then retire with the jury to decide your guilt or otherwise. Usually guilt, as there have been only a handful of acquittals in French criminal courts. Even French lawyers think that's wrong.

I second exile’s comments.

[niemeyjt]

Sentencing isn't always straightforward, hence the guidelines.
Personally, I'd rather see those who are a physical danger to the public locked up than tax evaders. People like Becker, Lester Piggott etc are punished by depriving them of their liberty, but depriving them of their money might be more punitive than taking up space in the already overcrowded prison system.

So a tax evader with money can buy their way out of prison whereas those without (such as a benefit fraudster) cannot?

Two-tier justice depending on whether or not the perpetrator has money to buy their way out of prison?

Certainly not what I want to see (as discussed above).

[Pathca]

I didn’t read Blaze post as saying that,What I read it as was a financial not incarceratory punishment,still a punishment but why should a person who has not physically hurt another or deprived another as in the case of theft etc have the same length oh time as someone who has. I personally think that community service could be used more in these cases but a properly organised system

[Bayleaf]

He could be put on house arrest, like Sarkozy?

[Pathca]

I do think we need to be exploring alternative resolutions more

[hughnique]

Get them out clearing the place up, road signs out of Dover are either covered up with foliage or filthy rotten dirty, one non offender supervising a couple of fraudsters, job done.

[niemeyjt]

I didn’t read Blaze post as saying that,What I read it as was a financial not incarceratory punishment,still a punishment but why should a person who has not physically hurt another or deprived another as in the case of theft etc have the same length oh time as someone who has. I personally think that community service could be used more in these cases but a properly organised system

OK - maybe I took two steps. So I pose the question, if we sentence wealthy tax evaders and fraudsters guilty of non-violent acquisitive crimes to forfeit their assets how do we punish those who commit the same crimes but do not have money or other confiscable resources?

Get them out clearing the place up, road signs out of Dover are either covered up with foliage or filthy rotten dirty, one non offender supervising a couple of fraudsters, job done.

I agree that for low-impact anti-social crimes like grafitti that is a great option - my view is that sentences should be in blocks of 10 hours - 2.5 hours morning and afternoon on a Saturday and Sunday. I am not sure I would classify Mr B's actions as "low-impact anti-social".

[Pathca]

By none custodial measures
They won’t be the same crimes, benefit fraud isn’t the same as squirrelling away several million or tax evasion