Agree completely with the sentiments of Karma's whole post and in particular with that in bold.  So many judges are completely out of touch with reality and are incapable of analysing the "FACTS" that actually matter i.e. the impact of the crime on victims/victims families and the FACT that punishment should fit the crime and be seen to fit the crime.

I hate to say this ....but.....there will be a whole load of others saying..........woah!!....way harsh, when their loved ones are sent down......

 Not if they were a nonce!

But Shar, punishment will never fit the crime until the laws are changed. The police can catch perpetrators (sp) and send them to court. It's there that the system falls down. There must be an awful lot of policemen banging their heads against walls these days 

Sprout ... I hear what you're saying and yes, I agree. But when legislation is there and the sentence is available to be given out by the judge, why then can a guilty plea mitigate in circumstances like this? It's the judge at fault here, not the law.  The law has provided for the maximum sentence. 

It's not black and white, I know, but what faith can victims and their families possibly have in the judicial system when barking mad judges can get it so wrong?

Kiddy fiddlers should be taken out of society and never put back..they don't learn or cure themselves, they wait until they get out to do it again....

I agree there sprout, police can catch someone and work their bums off to get a good case only for lawyers to strike a deal or a judge to pass a shoite sentence..laws should be changed and judges should keep their horrible opinions to themselves..telling a paedo she understands his love for children in a sexual way is sending out the wrond message to other paedo's....

I hate that expression......but, I was responding to the title of the thread...

And I knew thats the only thing that would be picked up upon in my posts....and it seems thats the only thing you've said you've hated..not the actual paedo....

Is the legislation there though Shar? If it was, wouldn't there be an awful lot more of these 'people' behind bars 

I think you are getting a bit to...........well, just a bit to, so I will say nite nite.. 

Another thing that pees me off is when they say, "there's no room in prisons"..fecking build up..put a few more floors on top of existing prisons..or build prisons under ground so's we don't have to see them..I can't stand all this PC carp..what about the victims..who cares about them?....

There are people in there that shouldn't be in there. Turf them out and that would make a bit of room 

Yes Syd I do get a bit to..........well, just a bit to....about people who rape children..I do apologise to you..I can't help it must be a hangup I suffer....

In many instances no Sprout, and I totally agree with you that law reform is required for much outdated and ineffective legislation ... but my gripe is specifically in cases such as this, where the judge DOES have the legislation behind him and CAN impose a maximum sentence, but doesn't for barking mad reasons

You know what?  I think I suffer from that particular hang up too stonksy .. but I sure as hell am not going to apologise for it to suit any politically correct agenda.

I know what you're saying Shar and truly wish it was different 

Judicial reform and not just law reform is required Sprout

Well I'd take mine back now shar but you quoted me....

Arrrh a nice debate (about a not so nice subject ) without aload of idiots coming in and spoiling it with one liners.. but I suppose it's still early.... 

Is a smilie considered a one liner?

I'll probably get ripped to pieces for this but I wouldn't necessarily condemn anyone for being attracted to children.  After all, as children, we're attracted to other childhood sweethearts but as we get older we become attracted to older people but then again, a sixty year old may find a 24 year old more attractive than someone of their own age.  IMO, I see it as a sexuality that has become stuck and retarded into adulthood. IMO, it's a case of bad brain wiring really and you can't condemn anyone for how their brain ticks.

However, indulging and acting on those instincts is an abuse of children and a child's human right to not be subjected to sexual or violent abuse by those powerful enough (adults) to impose it.  The point about paedophilia is it's a predilection that can't be indulged without greatly harming minors.  So while I wouldn't condemn someone for how they tick, I would condemn them for acting on their perversions.

Another thing that gets me is for each photo he had of an abused child seems to have been ignored by the judge and for every person who downloads them should be help accountable in the same manner as the person who took the pictures and who abused the children....

Paedophile rings are'nt just one class they go high up and most are protected, thats why we only get the small fry in these cases....

Carnelian ... glad you qualified the first paragraph with the second! Yes, I understand what you're saying and human instinct and taste can vary from the absurd to the perverse. Not getting into morals here, but my view is that everyone is entitled to their privacy and the privacy of their thoughts/preferences once they are not breaking the law in any way.

I do have to admit though that I think that judge's comments were particularly inappropriate for her office and for what they could be interpreted as. 

If its one of these....then yes....

All fine but then what's to stop the downloading paedophile from thinking that they might as well just abuse a child and take photos themselves, if they know they'll get the same punishment anyway?

I hate the fact that I have to pipe in and say.............that she was "quoted"........I would have liked to have seen her stand up in front of the cameras.......and.......SPEAK......

Do you completely mistrust all journalism Syd and won't believe anything unless you hear it spoken in front of you? For centuries, the public have relied on journalists to 'tell' them what is happening in the world ... I really don't understand how you seem to completely dismiss everything you read? Some of it might actually be true if you didn't dismiss it so completely.

Carn, Some of us tick different..I did'nt find sexuality until I was about 12 and that was only finding boys attractive but not sexually..and in the future paedophilia maybe more understood, i remember when homosexuality was thought as a terrible thing and not understood or accepted..But what a paedophile does is he forces sex onto a person who is'nt of age mentally or physically..he/she is wrong in the head and should'nt be in a society where children live..

Because thats what they do..a paedo has to produce fresh child porn to swap for what he wants..otherwise they're not trusted..the police usually use something very old that has been doctored with softwear when they are doing a sting....

QUOTE..does exactly what it says on the tin....

Stonks, you're telling me something my second paragraph clearly states.  I did comment that I'd probably be ripped to pieces for that post.  I knew I shouldn't have posted it as some would see it as an apology for peados, which is the last thing it's intended to be.

I knew you where you were coming from Carn..but even in my head I casn never see a place in society for them but that judge was wrong in what she said and I'm shocked she came out with it....

Chinese Whispers.......springs to mind..shar.....words whispered, and paid for, down the line........ 

SHAR....

Sorry....

I'm sorry Syd ... I don't get you at all.  I have to say I have sufficient respect for (most) journalists that I accept the facts they report ... I suppose it's a trust most people have put in them for a long time, and I'd hate to be in a position where I had to 'verify' every story I heard in the press.  Journalists live by a code of conduct and by and large most most of them respect that. IMO

It's ok, lots of people don't get me, all I can say is that the guilty should be found guilty, by the courts, and the press should state the facts. 

Nite nite  xx