The law and order lobby has been out in force today. The usual stuff about stiffer sentences and deterrents.

This whole moral panic is fueled by media reporting of supposedly soft sentences. Take the case of Ben Oliver, whose the sentencing was live streamed recently. He received 24 years for murder, reduced to 16 years, for an early guilty plea, and the judge said he must serve a minimum of 10 years, before he can be considered for parole.

This was widely reported in the press, as him being sentenced to only 10 years. Then, when you read the comments, underneath the various new articles, the public were saying "he will be out in 5 years, to kill again". That's because the public now believe that everybody is released half way through their sentence, no matter what the crime.

Of course this is not true, since the govt changed the rules only this year, so that anybody sentenced to 7 years or more, must serve two thirds of that in prison.

The other, more relevant thing, is the low clear up rate for offences, which police blame on the time it takes to check people's digital devices.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48780585

" the commissioner said criminal investigations in the 1980s were generally "straightforward" and could be completed quickly, with suspects often charged within 24 hours, whereas inquiries now were more complex, involving a large amount of digital evidence."

What this means, is that every time somebody is arrested, for anything, the first thing that police do, is check their phone for evidence. Old fashioned police detective work has been replaced by reliance on digital investigations. As we all know, that takes time.

So to help with the backlog, some police forces are employing unpaid volunteers, to view illegal images of children!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-48615274