‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/19/not-acceptable-un-expert-condemns-sentences-given-to-just-stop-oil-activists
Posted by Fox_9810
‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/19/not-acceptable-un-expert-condemns-sentences-given-to-just-stop-oil-activists
Posted by Fox_9810
20 Comments
Giving protestors longer sentences than we do murderers and rapists is absurd.
One of the main comments made in support of the sentences, is that it puts lives at risk, as people miss hospital appointments. I hope similar sentences are handed out to scumbag ferry companies that only seem to have mechanical issues on crossings with low passenger numbers.
Irrespective of the validity and worthiness of their cause, attempting to foist your opinions as a minority onto the rest of the population under duress by shutting down national infrastructure is hardly very democratic or fair.
>Fundamentally, [it is] not for politicians to interfere and opine on decisions that have been taken by judges.”
It’s perfectly reasonable for the AG and Justice Secretary to comment on whether the sentencing guidance is moral and proportional, especially in the context of the sentencing of violent crimes and the state of our prisons.
Whether you agree or disagree with their methods, the sentences are absurdly long when other sentences for much more serious and violent crimes are shorter.
They should still get prison sentences. Just because they are mentally ill, they don’t get to terrorize random people with their bs.
I have a sneaking suspicion that harsh sentencing in this case won’t in fact make others less likely to act similarly… nay I think it will sadly and dangerously up the ante for acts of far higher consequence.
To exploit some devil’s advocacy I wonder if that may have been the point.
“Not acceptable” doesn’t even begin to describe this miscarriage of justice that England is famous for. North Korean citizens are freer than most Brits are.
_Sigh_. People need to do a bit of background research into this case before passing judgment. People are just looking at the sentences and saying they’re excessive without actually researching the entire case.
The sentences are long because they’re extremely persistent serial offenders. They’ve been convicted of these sorts of crimes loads of times before.
Courts can be extremely lenient on first time or occasional offenders, even for quite serious crimes.
But serial and persistent offending is where they really start to put their foot down, because if the offender constantly keeps committing the same crimes despite having being convicted already, then it means that more severe sentences are necessary as the more lenient sentences clearly haven’t worked to change their behaviour.
And courts only grant less lenient sentences such as suspended sentences and community orders if they’re satisfied that the offender won’t carry on offending. These protesters have explicitly said that they plan on carrying on their offending, so less lenient sentences aren’t an option.
(There is also the fact that at least one of them kept committing contempt of court during the trial and generally tried to undermine the judicial process, but the judge said that this wasn’t factored into the sentencing).
This country has been a lawless hellscape for some time now. It’s about time we had some adults in charge who are tough on crime.
I get the impression that it’s likely a majority agree with the sentences, so it isn’t up to the self appointed UN expert to decide that.
5 years is really harsh, but then blocking the M25 is fucking stupid so I’m not hugely sympathetic.
The only reason they got 5 years is because they were let off with warnings multiple times.
It’s their own fault, could have done other protests or forms of info for the public instead of doing the one thing they were told they’d go to prison for if they did.
You can’t blame anyone else but them.
Since what they tried to do is borderline terrorism, I would say it’s quite fair.
You simply don’t sabotage the M25 and potentially paralyse the entire London.
>People missed flights, medical appointments and exams. Two lorries collided, and a police motorcyclist came off his bike during one of the protests on 9 November 2022 while trying to bring traffic to a halt in a “rolling road block”.
Prosecutors alleged the protests led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was put at more than £1.1m.
Due to the scale, they could potentially cause some major traffic accidents and got a lot of people killed
Not to mention all the people potentially being alienated from the climate cause, after all; “compassion ends with inconvenience”
It’s made some very divorced anons on Xitter positively tumescent with joy… not sure who else it helps.
Global Warming is being foisted upon us.
Far less democratic or fair.
It’s about time we did something about the disruption of society. Protest should be restricted to organised demonstrations in parkland. Not on roads.
Climate Breakdown is going to be very destructive and very scary. The average person doesn’t appreciate what it will look like.
If society cannot give voice to people who are scared then increasingly extreme actions will be taken.
If you make Non-Violent Action carry the same penalties as violent action then bad things will happen.
The length of the sentence in this case seems to be determined by the level of irritation caused by the protester. As a result, it appears that the sentence length is deemed to be justified based on this criteria.
The sentence was right.
Not in the fact that there is a wild difference between what climate protestors get, and what other protestors receive, but fundamentally the custodial sentence was the right one.
A lot of people simply have not thought what it would mean, if they gave the same people yet another slap on the wrist.
It would legitimise targeting of critical infrastructure as a form of political protest, don’t like Thames water? Lets turn off the taps, don’t like the governments Trans polices? Lets blockade a hospital, don’t like policy towards the energy majors? Lets black out the grid.
These people had other avenues available to them, but they choose not to either use the ballot box or enter politics themselves, nor enter industry or academia, they tried to force the issue by hurting the public, with the expectation that they will be perpetually let off with a slap on the wrist, and that policy will have to change to make the pain stop.
The word for that is extremism.