And now his wife, his victims and the powers that be want to contest this fact?
Whoops!
That’s the most appropriate thing that can be said about this whole sorry fiasco….
Yes – like many others, I felt that gut repugnance when I heard the news, wondering why his winnings shouldn’t be shared among those he made suffer. Why give such a prize to someone of such low moral stature? After all he’s anything but deserving, is he?
However what one deserves and what one is entitled to are two entirely different things….
Yes, the guy committed a horrific crime and is suitably behind bars for it; nevertheless, to withhold or intercept his prize would itself be an injustice. Certainly if we’re talking natural, ethical, justice, he’s certainly an undeserving recipient – but then again I’m sure there’s been many an undeserving recipient across the Lottery’s decade-long history. Though not in the same league, can you really look at a welfare mum with a dozen kids, living off the taxpayer as a worthy winner? When all’s said and done, the guy entered this competition properly, went through all the right channels to get his ticket, and has been rewarded for his correctness of conduct in this matter. The Lottery isn’t meant to be just, fair or moral – the very name should be hint enough for anyone. It’s a game of chance – a game intrinsically dependent on the random….
Camelot should’ve been more careful about the kind of peeps they offered their jackpot to….
C’est la vie, unfortunately!
Saying all that, isn’t this a textbook example of how fucking sloppy our justice and legal systems are? I mean, why the hell is a sex offender – and a repeat offender at that – being allowed these rights in the first place? Isn’t the idea of incarceration to deprive these reprobates of their rights as due punishment for their disregard of the rights of others? Prison should be just that for this type of criminal – prison. Not a glorified creche or daycare center but a punishment, correction and incarceration. Sure let the cunts out into the prison yard for fresh air; and by all means have different degrees of security/prison for differing degrees of criminal; but for fuck’s sake don’t give cocksuckers doing time for rape and murder day releases! I mean this is a guy told by the judge at his sentencing: “Every moment you are at liberty, some woman is at risk.”
Are a string of repeat offences, previous arrests and incarcerations, and a judge’s statement not enough of a red light?
And they go put him in minimum security prisons?
And give the bastard day releases so he can buy lottery tickets!?
Whatever made me think that the justice system was made up of learned and intelligent professionals, with some respect for proportional justice?
My final thought?
It’s at times like this, I’m especially glad I don’t play the Lottery…..
~MRDA~
Lottery pains
hello, friend of Melissa, i have been following your livejournal for a bit, like some of your opinions and well some i dont, but we are all individuals…And i also like your poetry,it is pretty good..Any way i agree with you on this one, but is it not just a side affect of the PC society we live in? That this man can be given a day release….it’s the people that think everyone can be reformed that have changed the way justice works here, from burglars being able to claim compensation because they were attacked by the home owner they were trying to rob to this particular case.
As you said prison for these people should not be a creche, though it shouldn’t also be hell, just strip them off human contact and let them learn to live with themselves, hell in itself can become a pleasure, but strip away all human contact then all you have will be your own demented thoughts……OK i went way of course on that one, sorry but i have a habit of going off at tangents..any way the lottery does go to fund some dubious causes to say the least…..especially here in Belfast i assure you..Slan
Hello to you too
Hmm, I’m interested to know which opinions you agree and, more interestingly, disagree with, curious fellow that I am…Glad you enjoyed reading the poetry too…
Yes – PC certainly has a lot to answer for. Now the term ‘criminal justice’ means just that…justice for the bad guy…thanks to all these Lefty think-tanks with their misguided notions of compassion. Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for reform (in certain cases), and I don’t think tax dodgers and drug addicts should be placed in the same institutions as said rapists and murderers…but reform can and should be conducted behind bars.
“strip away all human contact then all you have will be your own demented thoughts”
Hmm…is that necessarily always a bad thing? People make such a big deal out of solitary confinement and the like;, but I’d prefer that, as opposed to having to (literally) watch my arse every second round other inmates – not that I plan to get locked away, of course….
Re: Hello to you too
Oh i dont’t have anything against being solitary, most of my life has been spent being solitary one way or another, i like time to study my own thoughts, and i find i can only ever really do that when alone…..
You would not though never want to spend the rest of your life without any human contact would you? We are social creatuires, yes some people manage to break away from society and i guess be quite happy to. We are also though fascinated about how we would respond to being completely alone, so we have stories such as Robinson Crusue, and films like Castaway…
But i think we all desire someone to be part of our lives, ok this may be a bit presumptuous but from your entries you seem to be missing someone deeply, so imagine being locked away from the world where that person is, no one would be happy with that…
Then again we are talkin about criminals which i also assume you are not, and their minds tend to work differently, so maybe they would prefer it too.
Slan
Avoid the masses…
Well, if it were a choice between no human contact for the rest of my life and instant death, I’d choose the latter. As you’ve noted, there are at least certain persons whom I do give a shit about – to lose them would be…well.. I think you get the idea.
However certain contexts, like being in prison, solitude would be preferable to being thrown in with the general population (if you were in a jail which is equivalent of the one in Oz or some nightmarish shit like so).
Furthermore, whilst we may well be social creatures, we’re far from being pack animals; hence individual tastes, selectivity and time alone to formulate /realign thoughts as well as to introspect and gain better understanding of our feelings…
Re: Avoid the masses…
You are right that we are far from being pack animals, as you put it, “the masses” though do have a pack mentality, it’s why there are populist views, which more individually minded people would disagree with (democracy rule of the masses)……..
A lot of criminals too would then maybe prefer the solitude, emm maybe not for such things as to gain a better understanding of themselves, just because by their nature they are different from the masses, maybe more introverted than introspected….
So you have me agreeing you, well maybe complete solitude as a prison sentence would be complete hell for me even though i think i could do at least a year……and maybe it wouldnt work for some criminals. I suppose they could judge it on a individual basis….solitude for you, general pop for him etc
Heh, I’ve never played the lottery in my three years of being legally allowed to play it. Probably because I used to work behind the cig counter at Somerfield and part of my job involved selling tickets to annoying council estate Mums…..
KID: Mummy, can I have a Mars bar?
MUM: No, we can’t afford it. (To me) Oh, and twenty Marlborough Lights and five Lotto Lucky Dips, ta.
Fuckwits.
But agreed on the rapist front. What the fuck was he doing out of prison? I mean, even prisoners serving “Life” nowadays can be out in seven years. We have one truly fucked up legal system.