Everyone on here has gone through the justice system or are at least going through it at the moment.

I'm just wondering how everyone feels about seeing news reports etc. of people accused/convicted compared to before your own arrest? Has it changed your thought process and feelings towards them?

I'll be totally honest and say that mine has changed pretty drastically.

For those that don't know, I was guilty of an indecent images offence. Prior to this whenever I saw someone on Social Media and/or news I didn't really look into it too much but I never felt all that much sympathy for the person and was very much "do the crime, do the time". What I never noticed or to be honest, bothered with, was how drastically their life could change in an instant. And even though I still feel if you commit a crime you should be punished, but only by the court and the justice system. Once you've served your sentence your debt to society should be paid an you should be able to essentially pick up where you left off and move on using everything as a very valuable learning experience.

Don't get me wrong. I never got caught up in the mob mentality and witch hunts you see, especially relating to crimes of my nature which seem far more prevalent and attracting of abuse than say someone in court for getting into a drunken fight on a Saturday night or caught with drugs.

Part of my sentence was a Community Payback Order and I've obviously mingled with a variety of offenders who are there for lots of reasons. Some with specific intent, some who were just a victim of circumstance. Some of the stories were quite harrowing and humbling.

Some of the people I spoke with I used to just pass off as "a junkie" or a "jakey" given how they present themselves. Due to the nature of my offence all my unpaid work has to be carried out indoors doing crafts and art and similar.

There's one guy that really stood out and he was doing some work for the Koestler Awards (something I was doing also) and his art he was doing was amazing. You could tell he had zero confidence surrounding everything and was generally quite timid and kept to himself. We got to speaking quite regularly though.

It really humanized everyone for me.

I'm not on Facebook or anything now (for obvious reasons) but now when I see someone in the news for a similar offence to me my heart does break for them a little bit, knowing that essentially, the worst is yet to come.