In this era of victimization and endless legal wrangling its hardly surprising when murderers, child molesters and other assorted criminals receive unjustifiably light sentences for otherwise heinous crimes, such has the recent case of a Nebraska sex offender who was judged to be too short for prison.
In Britain this trend has now reached new lows, or perhaps they have been low for some time and only now is the public becoming aware of it. 40 year old pervert and rapist, Alan Webster, was initially sentenced to 6 years in prison for the rape of a 12 week old baby. Webster, who was already a convicted child sex offender, received an increased sentence of 8 years upon review by the British courts.
What exactly does this say about the British criminal justice system when a rapist, much less a baby rapist, can be sentenced to only 8 years in prison? Eight years is hardly sufficient time to atone for such a ghastly crime, life would be far more appropriate.
Perhaps more appalling was the 5 year sentence for Webster’s 19 year old accomplice, Tanya French. To make matters worse, French will be eligible for parole in less than 2 years time. According, to the courts, French’s age played a role in her light sentence, as if we are to believe that a 19 year old should be excused for their violent criminal actions. Life would be an appropriate sentence for a 16 year old girl, not to mention 19 year woman.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/beds/bucks/herts/5057164.stm