October 20, 2008
"Not only did you murder your victim by cutting his throat and stabbing him but you cut him up, cooked him and ate part of him."
Said the judge, sentencing Anthony Morley to a minimum of 30 years in prison. What do you have to do in Britain to get a life sentence?
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41 comments:
"What do you have to do in Britain to get a life sentence?"
Insult a Muslim.
That IS a life sentence. In the UK and Canada, they don't have "real" life sentences. You always have a chance at parole, just have to serve a minimum term.
In Canada this is 25 years, but includes a "faint hope" hearing at 15 for early release. This is all down to some horrid left wing ministers ad unimaginably idiotic judicial decisions. It is much more important to worry about a murders psychological condition in prison than to deal appropriately with murderers.
Palladian said...
"What do you have to do in Britain to get a life sentence?"
Insult a Muslim.
9:23 AM
Great minds think alike! You stole those words from underneath my fingertips! Thief!
I suspect anyone who would have defended himself from being a murder victim, avoiding the murderer's throat-cutting and stabbing, neither being cooked nor eaten, but having used a weapon to dispatch Mr. Anthony Morley, to let him shake loose this mortal coil, well, that would surely have offended the judge's sensibilities sufficiently to warrant life in the pen.
As it will ours, soon enough.
Ever have English food?
You'd have to cook something really awful to get a life sentence!
EDH said...
Ever have English food?
You'd have to cook something really awful to get a life sentence!
9:44 AM
10+ You win this thread!
Palladian beat me to it. Of course, since Britain has now permitted the creeping introduction of sharia law enforceable by civil courts, it is only a matter of time before such matters are turned over to a rougher justice. (We are told that these judgments won't be upheld if they run contrary to British norms. But I no longer have any confidence that Britain has any sense of British norms. Reading from afar and on occaisional visits to albion, the country has become unrecognizable to me in less than a decade. How wrong John Major - a good and decent man thrust into an impossible situation - has been shown to be; he prophesied that "fifty years on from now, Britain will still be the country of long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers and, as George Orwell said, 'Old maids bicycling to holy communion through the morning mist' and, if we get our way, Shakespeare will still be read even in school." Less than twenty years later, it's gone to the dogs: the country of chavs, rotten multiculturalism and a leaden, cloying intellectual and ideological uniformity that has englaciated the political process. With apologies to Justice Blackmun, "Poor Albion!")
My understanding is that in the EU a "life" conviction is against some human rights convention they all ponied up and signed.
-XC
PS - Not a euro-Lawyer, but did sleep on a poseur-pedic last night.
Look, let's not give up hope yet. The Brits still have a few tricks up their sleeves. You have got to read this.
A better question is, "what do you have to do to get convicted for voter fraud in America?"
MCG wrote: Look, let's not give up hope yet
But that's all past tense Britain.
Oh great, bring us down with the facts why don'tcha.
How can you say it's not a life sentence without knowing whether he'll die of old age in prison?
What's the life expectancy of a bitter old queen with mental illness in Britain these days anyway?
What are "pools fillers"?
William Holden.
Golden!
mcg said...
"Look, let's not give up hope yet"
No, I've given up hope for Britain. They've gone the way of Europe, and it's hard to imagine any chance of recovery. The rot started too long ago; it started when the empire was thrown off and the mother country failed to reimagine itself as a nation. It failed to contemplate what it meant to be British in the post-imperial age, what Britannia was if she no longer ruled the waves. That left an opening for nationalism and patriotism to be appropriated by the isolationists and the far right (I mean the real far right, not the "far right" that the American left dreams that anyone to the right of John Kerry is), which left Britain without a defense to fall back on as she was colonized and integrated into Europe. You can't defend your values if you can't articulate what they are.
And then there's politics, where a dready ennui has set in. When Labour came to power promising hope, change and a new kind of politics, and promptly utterly failed to deliver (fancy that! Sound familiar?), total cynicism set in. But the Tory party failed to take advantage, and has itself slowly rotted, settling into the rut of center-left thinking that has consumed all three parties. No one talks of recognizably conservative politics; it's all a dreary gray swamp of groupthink and intellectual lethargy from which one sees no escape hatch.
Ann - the pools are (or were) a sports betting thing. Honestly I never participated, but to my understanding, the filler is a sheet where you place your bets. If you think of a lottery as an analogy, the filler is the pools equivalent of a ticket.
In case it isn't clear, I feel no empathy for Britain, and little emotional connection to it beyond family and friends still living there. Hence, I don't like the term "expat"; that term derives from ex patria - "out of one's country." I'm not an expat. Britain isn't my country, it's just where I lived when I was younger. This is my country, and I love her very much. There's no going back in my heart.
Palladian said...
"What do you have to do in Britain to get a life sentence?"
Insult a Muslim.
That would get you the death penalty and not from the British government either.
Just another alternative lifestyle.
You'd have to cook something really awful to get a life sentence!
Toad in the Hole
Bubble and Squeak
Spotted Dick
Black Puddings
Kidney Pie
Haggis (ok Scottish)
Actually Spotted Dick is pretty good and Black Pudding is an aquired taste.
Say this guy got out and moved in next door to you. What do you do? Would you accede to living next door to a murderer and cannibal?
Screw the life sentence, you burn someone like that. There's no rehabilitation for someone like that, he's not human anymore, if ever he was. For those who think there is, let him board at your house when he's released.
You make a mistake in referring to "Britain". It's actually the United Kingdom. It's the place where Great Britain used to be.
The people living in the UK today (and their government) are unimaginably different from the people of the country whose flag once flew over a quarter of the planet.
"Insult a Muslim."
"Great minds think alike!"
"Palladian beat me to it."
So many great minds!
Professor Althouse: In the UK a "life means life" prison sentence is known as a "whole life tariff" and is rarely given. Until 2002 the ultimate decision was in the hands of the Home Secretary, but it's now been made a purely judicial matter. This Wikipedia article on the subject seems to be useful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_life_tariff
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. More and more, the former Great Britain comes to resemble things seen in movies such as The Fall of the House of Usher, Lord Of The Flies and A Clockwork Orange.
To answer your question, all murderers get a life sentence, the 30 years period is the minimum he has to serve before being released on licence (which is similar to parole in the US) which is not automatic.
Certain classes of murderers like serial killers, or multiple child killers will probably never get released.
I would be surprised if Morley ever got out.
Another reason to love the USA: death sentences and life without parole for the takers of lives; and no statue of limitations for murders.
Do you know, in Japan, if you'd killed someone, you only need to wait 20 years to brag about it?
As I understand it, a "life sentence" in the UK means you don't become eligible for parole for 15 years.
So. . .
Fifteen years is "life" in Britain.
Simon said: "And then there's politics, where a dready ennui has set in.... But the Tory party failed to take advantage, and has itself slowly rotted, settling into the rut of center-left thinking that has consumed all three parties. No one talks of recognizably conservative politics; it's all a dreary gray swamp of groupthink and intellectual lethargy from which one sees no escape hatch."
But...but...but, they are all so articulate and bright. Many of them went to Oxford and Cambridge. How can they be engaged in "groupthink and intellectual lethargy"? But...but...but, they are all so articulate and bright. They all think GW is a moron cowboy and the Messiah is wondrously articulate and Sarah Palin is a chillbilly.
Ah, the intellectual elites and groupthink. The fog is everywhere ... except amongst the plumbers and the chillbillies.
C'mon, Ann, it's not like he ate his victim raw. Don't be so judgmental!
I'll have to say a word in defense of Scottish cooking and my favorite, Lady Claire McDonald
http://www.claire-macdonald.com/
as for the ultimate demise of the UK as we know it, I expect many will ultimately escape to the colonies, and the hard core will end up in Scotland. I don't expect the Scots to give in to Sharia without bloodshed :)
"Another reason to love the USA: death sentences and life without parole for the takers of lives; and no statue of limitations for murders."
In the case that Ann linked to, the murderer received a life sentence with a minimum of thirty years. Which means that he will spend thirty years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. If he lives that long, it's extremely unlikely that he will receive parole due to the heinousness of his crimes.
If the same sentence were handed down in the United States, it would be '30-to-life', which would be entirely consistent with the majority of life sentences in the United States (which are '15-to-life' or '25-to-life). This murderer might have gotten a sentence of life without possibility of parole in many jurisdictions in the United States, but the distinction is meaningless if he never receives parole -- which he almost certainly won't, because of the heinousness of his crime.
It's not surprising that you're not familiar with your own justice system, let alone the justice systems of other nations. But Ann, being a lawyer, should know better, which is why the post that kicked off this thread is laughable.
"Do you know, in Japan, if you'd killed someone, you only need to wait 20 years to brag about it?"
Oh, those silly Japanese with their lenient criminal justice system!
Oh, wait. Sorry. Japan has the death penalty. When the difference in murder rates is taken into account, Japan is about as likely as Texas to hand down a death sentence for murder, which really means that a convicted murderer is more likely to be put to death in Japan than the United States as a whole.
So the average Japanese convict serving the equivalent of a life sentence will be paroled a few years earlier than his or her American counterpart, while the average convicted murderer in Japan is more likely to receive a death sentence than in the United States.
I'm not so sure that the Japanese criminal justice system looks so lenient anymore!
You have to enjoy them with a side dish of Fava beans and a nice Chianti.
K T Cat: "C'mon, Ann, it's not like he ate his victim raw. Don't be so judgmental!"
Whether the victim was raw or cooked, I have no doubt he was served at room temperature.
You make a mistake in referring to "Britain". It's actually the United Kingdom. It's the place where Great Britain used to be.
I don't think that you're right about that. Their folding money used to refer to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", and it may still do that. My understanding, based on that, is that Great Britain consists of England, Scotland, and Wales, and the UK consists of those three plus Northern Ireland. If I'm wrong, I will happily accept correction
James, You are correct
for an additional bit of trivia.
Flags for 2,000
The Union Jack, the flag of the UK, is made by superimposing the Cross of St George (England/Wales) on top of the Cross of St Andrew (Scotland) and the Cross of St Patrick (Ireland)
revidee A Clockwork Orange
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