All posts tagged: sentences

82 Sentences, Each Taken from the ‘Last Statement’ of a Person Executed by the State of Texas Since 1984 | Joe Kloc

82 Sentences, Each Taken from the ‘Last Statement’ of a Person Executed by the State of Texas Since 1984 | Joe Kloc

Published by skeptic

Um, I don’t know what to say. I am not as strong as I thought I was going to be, but I guess it only hurts for a little while. I sat in my cell many days wondering what my last words would be. I’m not going to shout, use profanity, or make idle threats. I am not going to play a part in my own murder, no one should have to do that. Can you hear me? This here is a tragedy. They are fixing to pump my veins with a lethal drug the American Veterinary Association won’t even allow to be used on dogs. I should not have to be here. I’m not a killer. I know how it look but I didn’t do it. I didn’t kill my wife. I did not kill those drug dealers. I did not murder your loved one. I am sure he died unjustly, just like I am. I have done everything to prove my innocence. If I am paying my debt to society, I am due …

Russia sentences American radio journalist to 6.5 years

Russia sentences American radio journalist to 6.5 years

Published by Sam

A court in Russia convicted Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva of reporting false information about the country’s military and sentenced her to 6½ years in prison on Friday — the same day Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years on espionage charges, marking a new level of persecution of foreign press by the Kremlin. Kurmasheva, 47, an editor with U.S. government-financed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was convicted in a closed trial on Friday in Kazan, nearly 500 miles east of Moscow, the same day as Gershkovich’s conviction in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals. News of Kurmasheva’s conviction, however, emerged only Monday. Kurmasheva was convicted under Russia’s wartime fake-news law, which bans the broadcasting or posting of any information about the war in Ukraine other than official propaganda. The law, adopted after Russia’s February 2022 invasion, effectively bars reporting on Russian atrocities in Ukraine, military setbacks, heavy military casualties, or criticism of the war. Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen who was accredited as a journalist by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, was convicted Friday …

David Blunkett’s mea culpa on indefinite sentences won’t wash | UK criminal justice

David Blunkett’s mea culpa on indefinite sentences won’t wash | UK criminal justice

Published by skeptic

Simon Hattenstone writes about David Blunkett’s latest mea culpa regarding imprisonment for public protection sentences (Martin Myers tried and failed to steal a cigarette. Why has he spent 18 years in prison for it?, 1 May). Blunkett’s statements of regret should not be allowed to pass. He admits that the resources were not in place to provide “offending behaviour” courses for those on indeterminate sentences. But as home secretary, he would have known this full well in 2003. IPP sentences were just one aspect of an enthusiastic authoritarianism practised by Blair and co. Between 1995 and 2009, the prison population rose by 66%. In its 2001 general election manifesto, Labour stated: “We plan the most comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system since the war – to catch, convict, punish and rehabilitate more of the 100,000 persistent offenders.” From 1997 to 2007, the total spending on criminal justice in the UK added up to around £187bn. Blunkett wants to paint the introduction of IPPs without proper resourcing as an innocent blunder. In reality, New Labour …

Kaylan Hippsley: Family of boy, 13, killed in crash call for tougher sentences | UK News

Kaylan Hippsley: Family of boy, 13, killed in crash call for tougher sentences | UK News

Published by skeptic

The family of a 13-year-old boy killed in a crash have launched a campaign calling for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers. Kaylan Hippsley died after he was struck by a car in Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on Thursday 29 February. Kaylan’s family said they had been “shattered” by his death and felt “utterly let down by the justice system”. They described him as “a bright 13-year-old boy” who was “handsome, clever and witty”. He was described as a lover of sports, especially rugby, who was “deeply loved and…taken from us far too soon”. Image: Kaylan Hippsley. Pic: Family handout Kaylan’s family have now launched an online petition “to deter reckless behaviour on our roads”. The petition calls for the introduction of Kaylan’s Law, to increase the minimum sentences for causing death by dangerous driving. “The loss of Kaylan’s life is permanent, the consequences for his killer should reflect this harsh reality,” they said. Harley Whiteman, 19, from Cae Felin Parc, Hirwaun, was sentenced to six years and nine months in a young offender institution last …

The Strangely Adorable Reason Couples In Love Complete Each Other’s Sentences | Valerie Varan

The Strangely Adorable Reason Couples In Love Complete Each Other’s Sentences | Valerie Varan

Published by skeptic

Have you ever felt that romantic, almost mystical feeling when you’re dating someone (or you’re in love) and the conversation between you flows so easily that you start completing each other’s sentences? It feels like you’re on the same wavelength or can read each other’s minds. You tell yourself this is a sign the two of you are “meant to be.”  It feels magical, even spiritual like two soulmates finding one another across the far-reaching cosmos. But believe it or not, that connection isn’t just woo-woo stuff, there’s a pretty cool scientific explanation for it. First, the warm tingle you feel snapping between you two is electric currents flashing up and down your spine and racing around your body. This electricity triggers those infamous love chemicals, like oxytocin, to flood your bloodstream.  Second, the magnetism you feel pulling like hot taffy between you is also real. It’s the energy of your two hearts communicating through one blended field. Your energies travel, via invisible currents and waves, and come together as one ocean of energy between you and your significant other.  RELATED: If These 10 Things Happen In Your Relationship, You’re …

Two men who secretly photographed thousands of people, including children, getting changed at swimming pools given jail sentences | UK News

Two men who secretly photographed thousands of people, including children, getting changed at swimming pools given jail sentences | UK News

Published by skeptic

Two men who secretly photographed thousands of people getting changed at swimming pools have been handed jail sentences. Adam Dennis, 38, from Littlehampton, and Robert Morgan, 32, from London, photographed at least 6,000 people, including children, at pools across London and the South West of England. The two men were described as “insidious” by police after being sentenced to a combined total of 42 months in prison, at Inner London Crown Court, on 24 April. They will, however, spend a total of 11 months in prison, as one of the pair had their jail sentence suspended. Alongside photographing victims getting changed, they filmed members of public on the toilet and shared and traded the images in online forums. They even created profile documents for some of their victims, some of whom were children, and researched them on social media. Authorities became aware of the duo after an investigation into a separate assault, which happened on board a train in March 2017, led to a mobile being seized. Following this, they were both arrested for voyeurism …

The torture of being trapped by indefinite prison sentences | Prisons and probation

The torture of being trapped by indefinite prison sentences | Prisons and probation

Published by skeptic

I am heartened by two pieces on indeterminate sentences that you published last week (Tommy Nicol was kind and friendly – a beloved brother. Why did he die in prison on a ‘99-year’ sentence?, 24 April; Editorial, 26 April). The suicide of Tommy Nicol starkly highlights how unjust imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentences always were and remain (although abolished for new cases 12 years ago). As a former prison chaplain and doctoral researcher into pastoral care for those serving IPP sentences, I witnessed firsthand their impact on the mental wellbeing of those who were, in many cases, life-wounded souls themselves. Thanks to the Guardian and campaign groups such as the United Group for Reform of IPP, I am hoping that this judicial scandal can achieve the same traction in the public consciousness that the Post Office scandal has. While the Commons justice committee report into IPP sentences in 2022 strongly recommended resentencing those still in custody, MPs on both sides of the house lack the moral courage to take this humane step to right …

David Blunkett says devising 99-year prison sentences is his ‘biggest regret’ | David Blunkett

David Blunkett says devising 99-year prison sentences is his ‘biggest regret’ | David Blunkett

Published by skeptic

David Blunkett, the former Labour home secretary, has said devising legislation that has left people languishing in prison for minor offences is the biggest regret of his eight years at the heart of government. The Labour peer, a titan of the Brown-Blair era, said imprisonment for public protection (IPP), known as the 99-year sentence, was the greatest blot in his copybook. IPPs, created in 2003 under Tony Blair’s premiership, granted indeterminate sentences and suggested a minimum time a prisoner should serve. Offenders can be on licence for up to 99 years upon release, meaning they can be recalled at any time, often for behaviour that is not criminal. In 2012, the European convention on human rights declared the use of IPPs “arbitrary and therefore unlawful” and the sentence was abolished, but not retrospectively for prisoners still serving their sentence. Nearly 3,000 prisoners in England and Wales are still serving IPP sentences. It is believed that 90 IPP prisoners have taken their own life when serving their sentence or on licence. “What has happened with this …

Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships with harsh prison sentences

Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships with harsh prison sentences

Published by Sam

Iraq’s parliament passed a bill on Saturday criminalising same-sex relations, which will receive a sentence of up to 15 years in prison, in a move rights groups condemned as an “attack on human rights”. Issued on: 28/04/2024 – 08:10 2 min Transgender people will be sentenced to three years’ jail under the amendments to a 1988 anti-prostitution law, which were adopted during a session attended by 170 out of 329 lawmakers. A previous draft had proposed capital punishment for same-sex relations, in what campaigners had called a “dangerous” escalation. The new amendments enable courts to sentence people engaging in same-sex relations to between 10 to 15 years in prison, according to the document seen by AFP, in the country where gay and transgender people already face frequent attacks and discrimination. They also set a minimum seven-year prison term for “promoting” same-sex relations and a sentence ranging from one to three years for men who “intentionally” act like women. The amended law makes “biological sex change based on personal desire and inclination” a crime and punishes …

The Guardian view on indeterminate sentences: the legacy of a bad law lingers on | Editorial

The Guardian view on indeterminate sentences: the legacy of a bad law lingers on | Editorial

Published by skeptic

The harmful effects of imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs) are well documented. For Tommy Nicol and Francis Williams, whose sisters have both spoken to the Guardian about the impact of punishments with no end-date, the pressure was unbearable. Nicol, who was originally jailed for a violent robbery, took his own life during a mental health crisis at the Mount prison in 2015. Williams, also convicted of robbery, died of an overdose in Bognor Regis last year – hours after telling a probation officer that he was suicidal. These tragedies are far from unique. At least 90 prisoners on IPPs have died by suicide in custody. Others, including Williams, died while on licence (Williams was on the verge of being recalled). One study found rates of self-harm to be 2.5 times higher among IPP prisoners. Evidence to the justice select committee from a forensic psychiatrist compared the clinical presentation of these inmates, almost all of whom are men, to “those who have been wrongfully convicted”. Such is the stress of being given this kind of …