Should we be Jailing someone for throwing an egg

[Gromit]

While we are releasing murders and rapists from jail early because they are full, should we really be sending people to jail for throwing an egg?

// A man who threw an egg at the face of a Conservative peer on a visit to Luton has been jailed for six weeks.

Baroness Warsi, now Conservative Party chairwoman, was targeted during the visit on 30 November 2009.

Gavin Reid, 23, of Green Close, Luton, had denied a charge under the Public Order Act of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress.

But City of Westminster magistrates' found him guilty and sentenced him to six weeks' imprisonment. //

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...-bucks-herts-10803553

I wonder if a jail sentence would have resulted if you or I had been pelted with an egg?

[New Judge]

No, jake, you may not have heard anything to suggest that the matter is so serious that only custody will do. Neither have I. Nor has anybody else who was not involved in the case. And that’s the point. All we know is that an egg was thrown.

The magistrates will have heard all the facts about the offence and the offender. They will also have the benefit of a pre-sentence report provided by the probation service. They are given quite a bit of discretion when sentencing because of the wide range of behaviour and action that can be covered by a single offence. They have used their discretion to sentence within the range set down in their guidelines.

As far as I know there is nothing in the sentencing guidelines (which the magistrates are bound by law to adhere to) to aggravate the offence because the victim was a Tory Peer.

[northernmonkey]

I read this and then thought to myself
Maybe custodial sentence is excessive for this lads actions compared to what some people walk of out court with just suspended sentences ect." But where do you draw the line with such idiots to give a sentence which fits the crime??

[Oneeyedvic]

Are they treadted differently? Of course they are.

Hit a bloke on a Friday night and you will probably get a suspended sentence.
Hot a policeman and you will serve time.

Break into my house and steal some stuff - again a light sentence.
Break into Buckingham Palace, and I would expect a stiffer sentence.

[jno]

I think the same principle is at play here as with the expensive security detail afforded to Tony Blair. You may not like him, but he's subject to much greater security concerns than ordinary mortals, and it's part of modern life that he needs more protection and we have to accept this.

Same here. I don't believe for a second that a higher sentence was imposed because the victim was a peer or a Tory, but because she was a politician, yes, quite possibly. Politicians have to be free to go out in public without being subject to physical attack, and if this means heavier sentences for people who attack them than for people who attack me, then so be it.

The alternative is that they'll lock themselves away, and then be criticised because they never have any contact with the British public. I'm not a great fan of politicians, but I don't want this happening.