Rogerborg? Is that blog entry written by you? I know I suggested that Bystander nominate a standin while on a break, but I definitely didn't have you in mind.
And this is a bad thing how precisely?
The ducking stool. Torchlight processions through the town. Hanged, drawn and quartered. Head put on a pole on the main entry route. Entrails strewn from trees. The cheering mob.
Matthew Hopkins, thy must awake for there is work to be done.
(Matthew Hopkins. Get the film 'Witchfinder General' (1968 ) from Blockbuster for more info - and lessons!)
What a great idea. But who will decide who lynches whom. I don't want to be lynched for speeding but I'd like my next door neighbour lynched for scratching my car.
My schtick! Unhand it immediately!
I think you'll find that lynch mobs would be given short shrift by the beaks, even when defending themselves from blaggers caught red handed.
I assume that's the consequences of Plod being required to complete an appropriate amount of paperwork for each incident. We can't be having John Bull actually solving his own problems; there's no 27B/6 form for that.
"...I'm in court tomorrow. I shall put the suggestion to my Bench chairman if I see him...I could be famous if this catches on.."
Here I think I see the difference between an English and American mindset. No American would announce such a new proposal before patenting it first.
Or have you done this already...?
I've always fancied the idea of a ducking stool in the nearest car park.
Isn't a ducking stool "structured decision making"?
Lynching might be a bit extreme - how about mobs charging about issuing ASBOs and on-the-spot fines?
Actually, I'd probably rather stick with the lynchings.
Lynching is a bit steep.
Bring back the stocks.
Public humiliation and punishment by the public.
Apparently, some of the people put in the stocks died, because the public rubbed enough manure in their faces to cause them to suffocate.
So it even has Green credentials!
Hoddy
Two blokes were up in Court for stealing a Calendar.
They each got six months.
Picking up some more American bad habits, I see.
While it's disputed exactly which Lynch gave his name to lynch law and lynching, and whether he lived in Virginia or South Carolina back in the late 18th century, there's no doubt that he was an American.
The Oxford English Dictionary, that peculiarly trans-national institution for the English language, defines the terms thus:
lynch law: The practice of inflicting summary punishment upon an offender, by a self-constituted court armed with no legal authority; it is now limited to the summary execution of one charged with some flagrant offence.
Lynching: To condemn and punish by lynch law. In early use, implying chiefly the infliction of punishment such as whipping, tarring and feathering, or the like; now only, to inflict sentence of death by lynch law.
I think the model the government has in mind is Judge Dredd rather than Medieval lynching. They were no doubt brought up on the 2000AD comic, which excellent though it is, is not a good source of ideas for running the country.
I don't recall Dredd handing out ASBOs, or filling in a 27B/6 every time he spoke to someone.
Outsource the business to Endemol/Ch4 productions and make a few bob out of it. I've lobbied for this before. Justice simple, speedy and summary perhaps, but what about profitable and entertaining?
Lynching might be a bit extreme - how about mobs charging about issuing ASBOs and on-the-spot fines?
I think that's actually here, or coming soon. Community justice, y'know.
Has anyone actually taken a close look at "the community" lately? I'm not sure I'd trust the average crowd of rent-a-mob retards on our streets to spell justice, let alone hand it out...
Do not know if you have seen the short film on CJSSS that has been put together to explain the concenpt to us very stupid criminal lawyers, but I have and it confirms my initial thoughts.
I have long believed that this initiative was going to be called simply "CJSS" before someone realised that everyone would start making comparisons with the Nazis. Accordingly, they tagged an extra "S" on the end.
The film confirmed my suspicions when a talking head announced that justice in the magistrates' courts should be "simple, speedy and summary". Perhaps I have been under a misapprehension all these years but has justice in the mags ALWAYS been summary?
Of course, you would not advocate anything of the kind (would you.....???)
But, as this poor, stamped-on, politically-corrected nation prepares to enter a New Dark Age, brought upon it while it slept, I fear that what you mention may become the norm. You won't have any police to limit (let alone stop) it, as they will be either all dead at the hands of the mobs, or have thrown off their uniforms and joined the lynchers, to save the lives of themselves and their dear ones.
It is very sad, but I fear you are right.
What on earth would be wrong with 24 hour street corner courts sitting under a public official with a jury made up of members of the neighbourhood, that jury with full powers to determine innocence or guilt?
For the more squeamish among you, maximum sentence would be a severe flogging (followed by tarring and feathering), with recommendations for anything more severe (the death penalty) being made to the District Judge in the nearby 24 hour boozer.
William
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