Sunday 6 September 2009

Maybe Chris Grayling Had A Point After All...

He was pretty much laughed at by the usual suspects when comparing the UK to the crime and grime-ridden streets of Baltimore as depicted in 'The Wire'.

But read these two stories, and tell me if you think he was totally wrong:
A teenage girl who acted as a 'honeytrap' to lure a smitten 16-year-old to his death at the hands of a love rival was locked up for a minimum of 10 years today.

Samantha Joseph led lovestruck Shakilus Townsend into an ambush in a quiet cul-de-sac where he was beaten with baseball bats and stabbed six times.
And no attempt to try for leniency; in fact, they expressed their open contempt for the justice system at every opportunity...
As the male defendants were led from the court, they began making defiant noises and were joined by their supporters in the public gallery.
And as if that wasn't enough:
This is the moment a ruthless gang kidnapped a friend of Lily Allen and drags him away to be tortured.

The 25-year-old and his teenage friend feared they would be killed when they were seized at gunpoint before being subjected to a constant barrage of extreme mental and physical pain during their week-long ordeal.
Sound like a usual episode of lawless, criminal gangs afraid of nothing and no-one?

Well, it's not fiction...

5 comments:

James Higham said...

It's not fiction, Julia and it depresses me each time I read something like this - you might have seen what happened to that man's bike the other day.

When the baby was thrown out with the bathwater in the west, this was the inevitable result.

North Northwester said...

"But the stubbornly defended constitutional availability of guns with enormous firepower to ordinary citizens - as well as criminals..."

[and the harm of not selling guns to ordianry citizens who aren't criminals and who don't therefore shoot anyone is?..]

"...in the US is surely an important factor, as is the country's racial legacy, which makes so much crime black-on-black in poor neighbourhoods."

I loved that last bit.

'Our ancestors were slaves, our grandparents were segregated, our mothers were on welfare - let's stick it to Whitey by shooting a brotha!'

Mark Wadsworth said...

Chris Grayling is a bit of a twat, actually, but he's allowed to make soundbites just like anybody else.

@ NNW, with the first case, they weren't "sticking it to Whitey" all the participants were black AFAIAA.

Mike said...

We have this situation because the authorities and our justice system defends itself first then anyone, including the guilty, it can. The defence of others by our justice system is simply an exercise in swelling its own coffers, not for the sake of justice.

Why do you think IRA terrorism victims and their families in this country are the last in the world to possibly receive compensation from Lybia? Remember most of the semtex used to rip people limb from limb was made for and sold to the IRA by Lybia.

My guess is just because your a victim does not automatically qualify you for support. More than that protection from becoming a victim is directly linked to some perceived value and nothing to do with deservedness or justice.
So much is done to protect the interests of BP in Lybia but John or Jane Doe attacked by feral oiks for fun are a joke to our police force. The people that spawn these feckless, parasitic oiks need castrating and spaying.

There is a point that you can’t bring back the dead and while Lybia has made progress in changing into some kind of negotiable and less volatile state we should encourage that.

We live in a country where wives who beat their husbands are applauded. So who do you think gives a fuck about ordinary citizens whoever they are? Certainly not the authorities or the justice system.

We still have the choice to sleep with a gun under our pillow but don’t blame me if you get caught.

North Northwester said...

Mark Wadsworth s
"@ NNW, with the first case, they weren't "sticking it to Whitey" all the participants were black AFAIAA."

Mark, irony intended. Hence 'killing a brutha.
Obviously not communicated well at all, but I can only hope to improve my prose.