On the light side
I have just read this story about three 18-year-olds who tortured a 17-year-old aspergers sufferer in a very nasty attack. They apparently received a community sentence of 3-months curfew accompanied by 80-hours unpaid work. I can only hope that the reporting of this story is hopelessly wide of the mark for I cannot think how the actions reported can justify such a low sentence. Some low sentences can be explained by the existence of a "text". A text is a letter from a senior police officer to a judge that explains that Defendant X has provided information to the police that has been very helpful to them in fighting ongoing crime and it asks that the judge reflects this help in the sentence. A text is never referred to in public and although the defendant's lawyers can see it, a copy is only provided to the judge and nobody else. Because it is a secret sentences for other offenders are commonly reduced in line with that of the informant's so that it is...