life (Slang.) A sentence of imprisonment lasting till death.
The above definition has always been my understanding of what is often referred to as a ‘life’ prison sentence. In simple terms, life imprisonment meant that the guilty party would spend, if not the rest of his life, a very long time in prison. Very long time = 20 years plus.
However, under English law ‘life’ prison sentences now bear little relation to the life of those convicted in what seems to be an ever increasing series of cases. Unless you consider that the life to which they refer is the lifespan of your average mouse.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
There have been two particularly nasty cases of child abuse in the UK press recently, one of which is mentioned in this article. There is the other horrific case here – it is appalling, so be warned.
In both situations ‘life’ sentences where handed out; only the legal definition of ‘life’ seems to have changed from the traditional concept, unless, as I mentioned before, you happen to be sending mice or possibly rabbits to prison.
The cases I’ve linked to this entry are by no means in a minority, or so it would seem from what I have been reading, which is why I have decided to write something. Supposedly, Blair and his mob have been changing the sorry state of the law in the UK to take into account the effects of crime on its victims and not treat those who react to crimes against them or their property as criminals. Before Blair’s attempts, you might as well have invited a thief into your house and said ‘help yourself, mate.’, because if you had hit the poor chap and injured him, you would have been treated as the bad guy in the situation and would have ended up in one of HM’s prisons, whereas the chap who had called all the upset would have probably walked free and had a go at suing you for compensation. Absurd, totally upside down. Now, at least this situation has been, partially, put right. Only they still seem to be treating criminals as a down trodden minority in need of mercy. OK, sometimes this is true, but when certain individuals re-offend almost as soon as they set foot outside of prison, then something, somewhere is not right.
I can see this, why can’t the politicos? Good question. Or is it possible that the MP’s are too busy powdering their noses and worrying about their public images to be actually doing anything useful. Nah, this could not be true. Silly thought. Forget I even said it. Maybe.
