10th October 2006
Trivialising
Crime could see Lib Dems' Coalition Hopes Sent Down
The Liberal Democrats could find their
hopes of joining another Labour coalition at Holyrood sent down for at least
four years if they continue to trivialise crime and turn their backs on victims,
Greenock and Inverclyde MSP, Duncan McNeil, has warned.
Plans
to be debated at the Lib Dems' Autumn Conference on Saturday would see no-one
sent to jail for crimes which currently carry a sentence of under 6 months.
They also want to make children judges - sitting on "Youth
Panels", handing down sentences to their peers who had committed offences
such as vandalism or under-age drinking.
Mr
McNeil is outraged at what he branded, "a flagrant bid to scrap and reverse
our drive to crack crime in Scotland's communities."
He
said:
"The
new Lord Advocate's first act was to pledge, in no uncertain terms, a concerted
effort from the prosecuting authorities to tackle street crime and disorder. At
the same time, the Lib Dems are putting forward right-on nonsense like this and
trivialising the crimes which grind down decent people.
It shows you how seriously they take the issue.
"How
do you tell a pensioner who has a brick lobbed through their window that the
offence is only serious enough to be judged by children?
How do we tell an assault victim that their attacker need never worry
about facing jail?
"And
what sentences could these kiddie courts hand down?
No Playstation or texting for a month - as if they haven't tidied their
bedroom? More seriously, how could
we expect these panels to pass sentence on an individual without background
reports? Are social workers going
to present reports to 12-year-olds about one of their peers, detailing, say,
sexual or other abuse they've suffered?
"This
is a slap in the face to communities like mine and to the Lord Advocate, who has
promised to restore our shaken confidence in the criminal justice system.
"If
the Liberals continue to turn their back on victims and trivialise these issues,
then any ideas they entertain about joining a coalition with us could well be
sent down for at least four years."
ENDS
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