Knee-jerk jail terms for rioters ‘undermine justice system’

JAILING those involved in the riots for longer than they deserve risks undermining confidence in the justice system, lawyers and campaigners have said.

The warning that the rush to send out a tough message and to make an example of those involved in violence was leading to “some very bad sentences” came as members of Britain’s coalition government appeared split over the issue.

Prime minister David Cameron defended a court’s decision to jail two men who tried to incite riots on Facebook for four years, even though the riots they tried to plan never happened, but senior Liberal Democrats urged caution.

Human rights lawyers and criminal barristers also warned against a “knee-jerk response” by the courts over the violence and looting following “the public’s anger and the politicians’ rhetoric”.

But Mr Cameron said: “What happened on our streets was absolutely appalling behaviour and to send a very clear message that it’s wrong and won’t be tolerated is what the criminal justice system should be doing.”

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Simon Hughes admitted there were “two strands of political opinion” in the coalition and so there were bound to be “different voices” on what response there should be to the riots.

“The people who have criminal offences can expect no mercy,” he said.

“But I hope the courts will look more sympathetically on a youngster who has never had a criminal offence and may have been swept up into the system.”

Leading criminal barrister John Cooper warned that judges and magistrates had a duty “not to be influenced by angry Britain”, describing some of the sentences handed down already as “disproportionate and somewhat hysterical”.

“What’s happening here is they’re being unduly increased to appease public anger and, as far as the magistrates are concerned, potentially influenced by the views of politicians.”

He added that the divergence from normal sentencing procedures was reflected in Ministry of Justice figures which showed two in three people charged over the riots and looting have been remanded in custody, compared with a remand rate of just one in 10 last year for those charged with serious offences.

Sally Ireland, director of criminal justice policy at the Justice campaign group, said several cases appeared “very much outside the normal range”, adding that giving rioters disproportionate sentences to make an example out of them could “compromise confidence in the justice system”.

She pointed to that of 23-year-old college student Nicolas Robinson, of Borough, south east London, who, despite having no criminal record, was jailed for six months for stealing a £3.50 (€4) case of bottled water from a Lidl supermarket in Brixton, south London, during a night of rioting.

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns for the Howard League for Penal Reform, added that the rush to send a message out was leading to “some very bad sentences, which will be overturned on appeal”.

The Crown Prosecution Service defended the tough punishments in the Facebook case, saying the web pages caused “significant panic and revulsion” to the people of Cheshire, while Cheshire assistant chief constable Phil Thompson said they sent “a very clear signal in terms of the deterrent effect”.

Later, in stark contrast to the two teenagers who were jailed, one 19-year-old who posted messages on Facebook encouraging people to vandalise a shop at the height of last week’s riots avoided facing court.

Joshua Moulinie posted a message on his Facebook wall urging people to damage the Spar store in his home town of Bream, Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire.

But instead of facing the courts, he was told to write a letter of apology to the shop owner by way of punishment.

The teenager has since posted defiant comments on Facebook, saying he was not sorry for the remarks he made.

“It was a very, very blatant joke, I’m not sorry at all for it,” he wrote.

“I’m sorry for the reaction it caused, but not for the action. Also can I make it very clear I never intended to riot?

“The police are sound. I have no problems whatsoever with them, they didn’t even charge me.”