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Thorswrath
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 90,
Visits: 1.4K
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+x+x+x+x+x+xHow do you feel about sentencing as a whole (not just custodial sentences)?. Are they always fair and just? Every case is judged on its own individual merits but can sentences at times be unduly lenient or way too harsh, and what impact does a sentence have on a persons drive to rehabilitate? Share your own experiences. It depends on what the objective of sentencing is. Are you sentencing to punish, to deter or to rehabilitate? Do you believe that sentence length should depend on the amount of harm caused to the victim? Should some offenders be punished more severely because the public views them as more 'dangerous' than other offenders? Last year the govt said that short sentences (under 12 months) were not working, because they were just long enough to disrupt someone's life, but not long enough to allow the authorities to rehabilitate that person. In Scotland, I believe the justice system has a presumption against short sentences, but in England they are still very common. Another point in the programme is that prison has no deterrent effect, even if one is intended. The number of people in prison shows that it is not a deterrent. Rehabilitation is not really the courts' concern, whether it should be or not, but there is (or was) a sign in many prisons saying that people are sent there as punishment, not for punishment. In England & Wales, the government keeps making noises about the ineffectiveness of short sentences, but no actual presumption against short sentences. Some courts just suspend the short prison term, which has exactly the same rehabilitation period anyway, and prevents filtering. There is the thing about post-licence supervision, but that could be just as easily achieved by a community order, as there is no post-licence supervision for suspended sentences. Rehabilitation is the courts concern. One of the factors that could determine if someone gets a community order or a custodial sentence is their responsiveness to rehabilitation. In the pre sentence report, probation will highlight to the judge whether the person is displaying an understanding of their offending and a willingness to change. I have to disagree, partially. It should be their concern, as they are setting the direction of travel. However, there are many tales of people going back to court to get an order ended, including restraining orders. If they mention that the order is preventing their conviction from becoming spent, the judge says "Your rehabilitation is not my concern". That seems fairly clear-cut. There's no evidence that the judge says "rehabilitation is not my concern" for absolutely everybody that applies to have an order lifted. But I would imagine it is a very common ploy used by people who want their order lifted, to say it's harming their rehabilitation. The judge has to decide who is telling the truth and who is working the system, because they will encounter both scenarios. One example I came across recently was where a judge said he was tired of hearing defendants say they accessed illegal images accidentally, because he hears that all the time. It's a 'boy cries wolf' situation. The ones telling the truth get missed, because so many others (or their lawyers) are game playiing. I can understand why a judge would get fed up of hearing defendants saying they accessed the images accidentally, to me going down that road as a defendant is always going to be a bad idea, because it shows you are not able or willing to at least accept responsibility. As an ex SO myself i can say that if you use the internet responsibly the chances of you actually finding illegal content are slim to none, one has to put in some kind of effort or at least be in the right places to access that stuff. The cases where people are sent this stuff unsolicited are very rare even they have an extremely difficult and arduous task proving their innocence.
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Thorswrath
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 90,
Visits: 1.4K
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+xHow do you feel about sentencing as a whole (not just custodial sentences)?. Are they always fair and just? Every case is judged on its own individual merits but can sentences at times be unduly lenient or way too harsh, and what impact does a sentence have on a persons drive to rehabilitate? Share your own experiences. I think for people in my boat being a RSO for a non contact related offense ie: internet based images, it's not necessarily the sentence itself that is harsh, its the repercussions and the reality of living life after the fact. The social impact is immense, the impact on family is immense and the impact on career and mental health moving forward is severe. Then in order to rehabilitate, you must somehow manage some kind of stability through all of that often with pre-existing mental health matters to contend with. and come out of it with a family, a job, social activities etc as these are some of the things they look at to manage and assess your risk. Personally it's a tall order however i'm lucky enough to be in work, i have some good friends and a social outlet all be it a 12 step meeting but it's still social and mixing with people, my relationship with my father has improved a lot but the prospects for romance are grim if i am honest so i don't dwell on it. I'm a lone soldier and that's the cards i've been dealt. I received a 3 year community order and i found probation to be helpful, i know some other people aren't as lucky. I had people that although didn't condone the offense and were quick to keep me accountable, they also promoted the positive steps i made. I believe receiving an indefinite SHPO however, was too harsh, it means i will have an unspent conviction for 15 years as whilst you have a SHPO you also have to be on the SOR. The sentencing guidelines for a community order of 3 years is 5 years on the register so i am hoping when 5 years is up i can get the judge to terminate the SHPO and bring the time on the register inline with the sentencing guidelines. I know i am not a risk to people, especially children. I have nothing to do with them (Children) i could never commit a contact offense and i certainly never want to go back to my old behaviour that lead me to committing an internet offense, ive also been free of cocaine and porn for 5 years now and done a lot of research on porn addiction, therapy etc dealing with past traumas and i'm part of the drug recovery community through my 12 step program. If i can get that across i am hoping they see those as positives . I've been through the media, public humiliation and a suicide attempt but i've also shared a stage with a survivor of CSA and spoken to 100 people about my past and what lead me to offend, i've sat in rooms full of addicts and seen amazing transformations but also sad news when a person relapses and overdoses. For people who think getting a community order for this kind of offense is a walk in the park or a 'slap on the wrist' then ask yourself would you survive and manage to find a reason to keep on going ? because there are those for whom it's too much and rather than try to deal with it they take their own life and some people might say 'good' they don't deserve their life, but what if they come out the other end, get through it and manage to put something good back into society.
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JASB
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Group: Awaiting Activation
Posts: 1.1K,
Visits: 1.7K
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+x+xHow do you feel about sentencing as a whole (not just custodial sentences)?. Are they always fair and just? Every case is judged on its own individual merits but can sentences at times be unduly lenient or way too harsh, and what impact does a sentence have on a persons drive to rehabilitate? Share your own experiences. I think for people in my boat being a RSO for a non contact related offense ie: internet based images, it's not necessarily the sentence itself that is harsh, its the repercussions and the reality of living life after the fact. The social impact is immense, the impact on family is immense and the impact on career and mental health moving forward is severe. Then in order to rehabilitate, you must somehow manage some kind of stability through all of that often with pre-existing mental health matters to contend with. and come out of it with a family, a job, social activities etc as these are some of the things they look at to manage and assess your risk. Personally it's a tall order however i'm lucky enough to be in work, i have some good friends and a social outlet all be it a 12 step meeting but it's still social and mixing with people, my relationship with my father has improved a lot but the prospects for romance are grim if i am honest so i don't dwell on it. I'm a lone soldier and that's the cards i've been dealt. I received a 3 year community order and i found probation to be helpful, i know some other people aren't as lucky. I had people that although didn't condone the offense and were quick to keep me accountable, they also promoted the positive steps i made. I believe receiving an indefinite SHPO however, was too harsh, it means i will have an unspent conviction for 15 years as whilst you have a SHPO you also have to be on the SOR. The sentencing guidelines for a community order of 3 years is 5 years on the register so i am hoping when 5 years is up i can get the judge to terminate the SHPO and bring the time on the register inline with the sentencing guidelines. I know i am not a risk to people, especially children. I have nothing to do with them (Children) i could never commit a contact offense and i certainly never want to go back to my old behaviour that lead me to committing an internet offense, ive also been free of cocaine and porn for 5 years now and done a lot of research on porn addiction, therapy etc dealing with past traumas and i'm part of the drug recovery community through my 12 step program. If i can get that across i am hoping they see those as positives . I've been through the media, public humiliation and a suicide attempt but i've also shared a stage with a survivor of CSA and spoken to 100 people about my past and what lead me to offend, i've sat in rooms full of addicts and seen amazing transformations but also sad news when a person relapses and overdoses. For people who think getting a community order for this kind of offense is a walk in the park or a 'slap on the wrist' then ask yourself would you survive and manage to find a reason to keep on going ? because there are those for whom it's too much and rather than try to deal with it they take their own life and some people might say 'good' they don't deserve their life, but what if they come out the other end, get through it and manage to put something good back into society. Hi I applaud the work you have done in rehabilitating yourself and the selfless manner of allowing yourself to be "seen" in order to assist others. My thoughts concerning the differentiation between contact - non contact (images) based offences have been voiced here before and that I do not attempt to attribute severity to either as both have victims. I prefer to try and understand the individual and their acceptance of an offence and so focus on their strategy and targets to become a human being whose aim is to be offence free. This is so I may gain knowledge from the experience of others in my strategy to remain offence free. We are "Human Beings" first and therefore have faults. Managing, and so controlling (as you cannot fully eliminate) our emotions and psychological controls can be achieved but there is not a project end date. Even non-offenders have to monitor these elements of our design. As a Human being who has experienced the "loss of control" to commit an offence, I now emphasise a higher level of thought processing in recognising new and old "inappropriate" scenarios in the same manner as any other "choice" process. Achieving this does not mean I have formulated a solution to end them but it does allow me say " I will not commit another offence"; though many who do not really know me will disbelieve me; and wait for my obituary for proof. We all have or are being punished by elements of society that is possibly lead / manipulated by "likes or un-likes", and beliefs that are formed but not informed by them One belief I think all of us who come here have to learn is that:Self imposed punishment does not lead to purity of mind or body
take care and offer "rewards" to yourself when a target is achieved not further punishment.
Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.
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Thorswrath
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Group: Forum Members
Posts: 90,
Visits: 1.4K
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+x+x+xHow do you feel about sentencing as a whole (not just custodial sentences)?. Are they always fair and just? Every case is judged on its own individual merits but can sentences at times be unduly lenient or way too harsh, and what impact does a sentence have on a persons drive to rehabilitate? Share your own experiences. I think for people in my boat being a RSO for a non contact related offense ie: internet based images, it's not necessarily the sentence itself that is harsh, its the repercussions and the reality of living life after the fact. The social impact is immense, the impact on family is immense and the impact on career and mental health moving forward is severe. Then in order to rehabilitate, you must somehow manage some kind of stability through all of that often with pre-existing mental health matters to contend with. and come out of it with a family, a job, social activities etc as these are some of the things they look at to manage and assess your risk. Personally it's a tall order however i'm lucky enough to be in work, i have some good friends and a social outlet all be it a 12 step meeting but it's still social and mixing with people, my relationship with my father has improved a lot but the prospects for romance are grim if i am honest so i don't dwell on it. I'm a lone soldier and that's the cards i've been dealt. I received a 3 year community order and i found probation to be helpful, i know some other people aren't as lucky. I had people that although didn't condone the offense and were quick to keep me accountable, they also promoted the positive steps i made. I believe receiving an indefinite SHPO however, was too harsh, it means i will have an unspent conviction for 15 years as whilst you have a SHPO you also have to be on the SOR. The sentencing guidelines for a community order of 3 years is 5 years on the register so i am hoping when 5 years is up i can get the judge to terminate the SHPO and bring the time on the register inline with the sentencing guidelines. I know i am not a risk to people, especially children. I have nothing to do with them (Children) i could never commit a contact offense and i certainly never want to go back to my old behaviour that lead me to committing an internet offense, ive also been free of cocaine and porn for 5 years now and done a lot of research on porn addiction, therapy etc dealing with past traumas and i'm part of the drug recovery community through my 12 step program. If i can get that across i am hoping they see those as positives . I've been through the media, public humiliation and a suicide attempt but i've also shared a stage with a survivor of CSA and spoken to 100 people about my past and what lead me to offend, i've sat in rooms full of addicts and seen amazing transformations but also sad news when a person relapses and overdoses. For people who think getting a community order for this kind of offense is a walk in the park or a 'slap on the wrist' then ask yourself would you survive and manage to find a reason to keep on going ? because there are those for whom it's too much and rather than try to deal with it they take their own life and some people might say 'good' they don't deserve their life, but what if they come out the other end, get through it and manage to put something good back into society. Hi I applaud the work you have done in rehabilitating yourself and the selfless manner of allowing yourself to be "seen" in order to assist others. My thoughts concerning the differentiation between contact - non contact (images) based offences have been voiced here before and that I do not attempt to attribute severity to either as both have victims. I prefer to try and understand the individual and their acceptance of an offence and so focus on their strategy and targets to become a human being whose aim is to be offence free. This is so I may gain knowledge from the experience of others in my strategy to remain offence free. We are "Human Beings" first and therefore have faults. Managing, and so controlling (as you cannot fully eliminate) our emotions and psychological controls can be achieved but there is not a project end date. Even non-offenders have to monitor these elements of our design. As a Human being who has experienced the "loss of control" to commit an offence, I now emphasise a higher level of thought processing in recognising new and old "inappropriate" scenarios in the same manner as any other "choice" process. Achieving this does not mean I have formulated a solution to end them but it does allow me say " I will not commit another offence"; though many who do not really know me will disbelieve me; and wait for my obituary for proof. We all have or are being punished by elements of society that is possibly lead / manipulated by "likes or un-likes", and beliefs that are formed but not informed by them One belief I think all of us who come here have to learn is that:Self imposed punishment does not lead to purity of mind or body
take care and offer "rewards" to yourself when a target is achieved not further punishment. Thanks for your kind words. You are right that self imposed punishment does not lead to purity of mind or body and it does take a while to learn how to be kind to yourself again. These days I'm very much focused on my career path and my hobbies to keep me 'focused', having support is also crucial, someone you can phone up and say 'hey i'm feeling a bit out of sorts today' The whole 'likes and unlikes' thing is something i'm glad to be rid of, not been on social media now for 5 years and really don't miss it... what ever happened to just ringing someone up for a chat? i found the likes of face book to add to my mental health problems, i think many people could benefit from staying away from those platforms, especially the younger folk. I count myself lucky to have grown up in the late 1980's and early 90's when going out in the woods and playing knock down ginger and brittish bulldog were how we used to get our kicks. these days so many of the younger generation spend way too much time on the internet and my point is where mental health is negatively affected this opens the door for poor coping behaviours which can often lead to being on the wrong side of the law. So being able to almost revert back to a more traditional way of thinking has helped me a lot because i feel when we've been through the wringer we start to appreciate some of the more simpler things in life.
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JASB
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Group: Awaiting Activation
Posts: 1.1K,
Visits: 1.7K
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+x+x+x+xHow do you feel about sentencing as a whole (not just custodial sentences)?. Are they always fair and just? Every case is judged on its own individual merits but can sentences at times be unduly lenient or way too harsh, and what impact does a sentence have on a persons drive to rehabilitate? Share your own experiences. I think for people in my boat being a RSO for a non contact related offense ie: internet based images, it's not necessarily the sentence itself that is harsh, its the repercussions and the reality of living life after the fact. The social impact is immense, the impact on family is immense and the impact on career and mental health moving forward is severe. Then in order to rehabilitate, you must somehow manage some kind of stability through all of that often with pre-existing mental health matters to contend with. and come out of it with a family, a job, social activities etc as these are some of the things they look at to manage and assess your risk. Personally it's a tall order however i'm lucky enough to be in work, i have some good friends and a social outlet all be it a 12 step meeting but it's still social and mixing with people, my relationship with my father has improved a lot but the prospects for romance are grim if i am honest so i don't dwell on it. I'm a lone soldier and that's the cards i've been dealt. I received a 3 year community order and i found probation to be helpful, i know some other people aren't as lucky. I had people that although didn't condone the offense and were quick to keep me accountable, they also promoted the positive steps i made. I believe receiving an indefinite SHPO however, was too harsh, it means i will have an unspent conviction for 15 years as whilst you have a SHPO you also have to be on the SOR. The sentencing guidelines for a community order of 3 years is 5 years on the register so i am hoping when 5 years is up i can get the judge to terminate the SHPO and bring the time on the register inline with the sentencing guidelines. I know i am not a risk to people, especially children. I have nothing to do with them (Children) i could never commit a contact offense and i certainly never want to go back to my old behaviour that lead me to committing an internet offense, ive also been free of cocaine and porn for 5 years now and done a lot of research on porn addiction, therapy etc dealing with past traumas and i'm part of the drug recovery community through my 12 step program. If i can get that across i am hoping they see those as positives . I've been through the media, public humiliation and a suicide attempt but i've also shared a stage with a survivor of CSA and spoken to 100 people about my past and what lead me to offend, i've sat in rooms full of addicts and seen amazing transformations but also sad news when a person relapses and overdoses. For people who think getting a community order for this kind of offense is a walk in the park or a 'slap on the wrist' then ask yourself would you survive and manage to find a reason to keep on going ? because there are those for whom it's too much and rather than try to deal with it they take their own life and some people might say 'good' they don't deserve their life, but what if they come out the other end, get through it and manage to put something good back into society. Hi I applaud the work you have done in rehabilitating yourself and the selfless manner of allowing yourself to be "seen" in order to assist others. My thoughts concerning the differentiation between contact - non contact (images) based offences have been voiced here before and that I do not attempt to attribute severity to either as both have victims. I prefer to try and understand the individual and their acceptance of an offence and so focus on their strategy and targets to become a human being whose aim is to be offence free. This is so I may gain knowledge from the experience of others in my strategy to remain offence free. We are "Human Beings" first and therefore have faults. Managing, and so controlling (as you cannot fully eliminate) our emotions and psychological controls can be achieved but there is not a project end date. Even non-offenders have to monitor these elements of our design. As a Human being who has experienced the "loss of control" to commit an offence, I now emphasise a higher level of thought processing in recognising new and old "inappropriate" scenarios in the same manner as any other "choice" process. Achieving this does not mean I have formulated a solution to end them but it does allow me say " I will not commit another offence"; though many who do not really know me will disbelieve me; and wait for my obituary for proof. We all have or are being punished by elements of society that is possibly lead / manipulated by "likes or un-likes", and beliefs that are formed but not informed by them One belief I think all of us who come here have to learn is that:Self imposed punishment does not lead to purity of mind or body
take care and offer "rewards" to yourself when a target is achieved not further punishment. Thanks for your kind words. You are right that self imposed punishment does not lead to purity of mind or body and it does take a while to learn how to be kind to yourself again. These days I'm very much focused on my career path and my hobbies to keep me 'focused', having support is also crucial, someone you can phone up and say 'hey i'm feeling a bit out of sorts today' The whole 'likes and unlikes' thing is something i'm glad to be rid of, not been on social media now for 5 years and really don't miss it... what ever happened to just ringing someone up for a chat? i found the likes of face book to add to my mental health problems, i think many people could benefit from staying away from those platforms, especially the younger folk. I count myself lucky to have grown up in the late 1980's and early 90's when going out in the woods and playing knock down ginger and brittish bulldog were how we used to get our kicks. these days so many of the younger generation spend way too much time on the internet and my point is where mental health is negatively affected this opens the door for poor coping behaviours which can often lead to being on the wrong side of the law. So being able to almost revert back to a more traditional way of thinking has helped me a lot because i feel when we've been through the wringer we start to appreciate some of the more simpler things in life. Hi I am pleased you read my words in the manner intended. Unfortunately my last employment was working for HMP as once I disclose offers are rescinded; over 2000 applications..... I have never used the like of FB etc even though I was employed in IT since the mid '80's. My offence - you can read about in other topics I have created - was consensual, non violent or any of all the normal assumptions made by society upon someone with the label SO. I have found peace and freedom in my thoughts by the manner I accept my life as it is now. However that does not stop me pursuing, by means of constructional questioning, the quality of life all human being should be entitled to in a modern society and without any discrimination. Keep safe and strong.
Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.
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