Disproportionate sentencing?

[gary baldy]

I know you are all going to jump on me for this and this subject has been discussed before but does anyone else think that the 36 year sentence handed down to Damien Hanson ( a black man) for murdering John Monkton (a rich white banker) is a little extreme?
You read stories every day of murderers getting light sentences but to hand down 3 life sentences seems incredible. This man deserves to be punished no doubt but has his ethnicity and the 'status' of his victim influenced the judge's decision?

[NORMANTHEDOG]

Gary,you are totally right,but it seems our judges once again are in another world,one minute they give a child abuser 6/7 yrs which is not enough,then they give out sentences like this,i know he should go away for a long time,but this is over the top, its about time these judges started to live in the real world.

[mike1222]

Forgetting about his colour, he is a brutal murderer - the sentence is not long enough!!
We moan about out -of-touch judges getting sentencing wrong all the time, and when one nearly gets it right people still moan!!

[kev100]

36 years is absolutely right, not because of the fact that he is a black man but because of what he did.

What is wrong in in this country is the pathetically short sentences for rape and murder.

For crimes like this 36 years should be the norm.

[gary baldy]

You are not reading my question!
Hanson is vermin and the scumbag deserves to be punished. However why did two twins this week get 9years for murdering and robbing their own step grandmother?
9 years?
My question is that, once again, race and class seem to have had an influence on the outcome of a trial and Hanson's sentence is vastly greater than that of other recent cases of murder.
I am not saying length of the sentence is wrong , i am saying the inconsistency is wrong.

[laurence2]

I agree with the last to post, just adding in america he would of got 100 years, it was a cold callous attack, Colour plays no part in this, i just wish the rest of the judicial system would come up to speed.

ps, Bet his lawyers appeal tho

[bernardo]

Normally, it would be excessive. But in this case I gather that he was an escaped prisoner or had lots of previous convictions or something or whatever, so it's more serious than if it had been an isolated first offence.

[noxlumos]

I agree with Gary to be honest, particularly with regard to the twins who killed their grandmother. To only get nine years for what was a heinous crime was absurd, made all the more so when this man was sentenced to 36 years.There has to be consistancy in sentencing and that means that people's ( victim and perpetrator's) ethnicity and social status has to be disregarded unless it is relevant to the case. In this instance it clearly wasn't and whilst the victims have my utmost sympathy, something has to be done to make sentences fairer across the board.

[Goodsoulette]

I agree, compared to the 8 yrs those ******* kids got for murdering and robbing their own nan.

[Goodsoulette]

Although i think that sentences should generally be increased not decreased to match those of other crimes.

[Hgrove]

The mandatory sentence for murder is life and I think it should mean life. Does anyone know whether perchance the twins were found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder? Because sentences for manslaughter can be any length from life to one year for example.

[Goodsoulette]

yeah they were because they were robbing her......the fact that she died with broken ribs her eye socket caved in and then strangled.

My advice if you ever want to kill anyone rob them as well.....seems to get you off doing real time.

[jno]

yes Gary that was also my own first thought when I read the story. 36 years is way out of line with usual sentences for murder. The twins are perhaps not a pefect analogy - as I read the case, they sounded a bit subnormal mentally, and were charged with manslaughter. But you have to wonder what factors were influencing the judge. Compare it with the sentences in this case for instance.

[mike1222]

Gary, what do you base this assumption of colour prejudice on? If the perpetrator had been Irish, Scottish or Welsh would you have made some other assumption of prejudice? You must have some evidence, more than just an assumption of colour /class prejudice on the part of the judge.

This animal didn't get long enough, be he black, yellow or pink!!!

[Hgrove]

Well I think the weak link in the chain is the CPS then. Why charge this Hanson man with murder and the twins with just manslaughter? The reason must be something like, the CPS need to achieve convictions and they prefer the certainty of a conviction for manslaughter to the possibility of an acquittal of murder. The courts do they best they can but a court cannot find guilty of murder someone who's up for manslaughter. (This I gather is a fundamental principle). I suppose it's politics: if the CPS do not achieve convictions they may get penalised in funding for ex. Of course it does not do much for justice.

[Steve_Luts]

Gary - I know you and I have locked horns on this issue before, so I don't want to go over old ground too much.

However, I think you are overlooking one enormous issue;Hanson was on parole from a prison sentence for shooting and robbing somebody at the time he killed John Monckton - see here for more information: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4533182.stm

Had we not got such lenient sentencing and parole conditions in this country, then that scum Hanson would have been inside, rather than on the streets to run the life of the Monckton family. Given his record, 36 years is too short.

Yes, before you ask, I would flick the switch myself.

Those twins - however terrible their crime - were committing a first violent offence, please correct me if I am wrong. Thus they received a lighter sentence - too light I agree, but in these two cases you are not comparing like with like.

Please read for full guidelines: http://www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk/advice/#mintermmurder

[WoWo]

Steve_Luts is correct the two cases are very different. In Damien Hansons case he was not just convicted of murder but also attempted muder of the victims wife and also armed robbery hence the much longer sentence.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4676898.stm