2024-08-20 16:50:50
Nathan Palmer, 29, and Niven Matthewman, 19, were both sentenced on Monday August 19 to two years and eight months in prison. They were part of a violent group of about a hundred people who attacked the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham (South Yorkshire) on August 4, where more than 200 asylum seekers were staying.
For ten days, the United Kingdom experienced the worst racial riots in its history, caused after a knife attack which claimed the lives of three little girls on July 29 in Southport, in the northwest of England.
Avoid many chains
Since then, more than 1,100 people have been arrested and more than 600 have been charged in England and Northern Ireland. If the total length of the sentences handed down is two years, one of them is sentenced to three years in prison “Materials published on the Internet intended to incite racial hatred”. Another in Hull (Yorkshire) took six more years “Violent disturbance of public order, aggravated racially aggravated criminal damage and attempted arson”.
Faced with many of these trials, which can lead to imprisonment, the Labor government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer worked, on Monday August 19, the work. “early morning” (“Petit Matin”): temporary emergency measures and rehabilitation intended to prevent prison raids in parts of the north of England and the Midlands. “This is to ensure that no one is taken to court if there is no safe place for them, and it allows people to be detained at the police station until they are called them to court”, insisted a spokesman for the British government on Monday.
In England, the total prison population is estimated at 87,893 prisoners, with a usable capacity of 89,191 beds: so there are only 1,298, according to a government count. Faced with overcrowding in prisons, trials can be delayed, with defendants being held in police cells for the time being or released on bail while awaiting trial. Time will allow the prison services, courts and police to assess the nature of the charges that can be brought to justice.
The justice system is in crisis
For Tom Franklin, director general of the Association of Magistrates who spoke on BBC 4, the implementation of emergency measures is not “a miracle”. As you said, “The justice system has been in crisis for years and often without the public noticing.” The conflict soon, he continued, will have “you should” to spark an argument over “What needs to be done to solve this problem in the long term”.
A problem that the new government will have to face. Before the conflict, in July, Justice Minister Shabana Mahmood announced plans to reduce the proportion of sentences prisoners expected to serve behind bars from 50 to 40 percent. This measure is expected to lead to the release of 5,500 offenders in September and October. Exceptions are those convicted of sexual crimes, acts of terrorism, domestic violence or certain violent crimes.
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