The UK is going to change the law so if someone kills a Police Officer (on or off duty), Paramedic, NHS Worker providing care, Ambulance worker, Fireman or Prison Guard, that person will get mandatory life. This is because of the outrage after the PC Andrew Harper case, where a police officer tried to stop two thieving Travellers (aren't they all) and they dragged him down a tarmacked country lane behind their car for 91 secs at speeds of up to 40 mph, and you can imagine what that did to him. He died and the scum only got 13 years and 7 years. But, while this law is born out of good motivations, it is not a good or very well thought out law. The UK seems to have a strange streak combining being soft on serious criminals with, on the other hand, having very authoritarian laws. I believe this is a case of the UK flittering between those two extremes and having difficulty making up its mind. This new proposed law does not even really make sense. If someone murders anyone randomly on the street they should get life in prison, shouldn't they? (Why would it matter that it was because the victim was a police officer?) Why is a specific law needed? There are some situations where the killing may not be a "cold-blooded" murder. Many criminals for example might shoot at police not because they are police but because they are in the process of trying to use force against the criminal. This is a form of "self defense" even if still not legally justified. In some of these cases, maybe the criminals should have the possibility of some mercy. In my opinion, most people (including those who make the laws) are just not very smart, and all too often the thinking behind these laws seems to frame things in terms of "all" or "nothing". But that doesn't make for very good laws. Mandatory life sentences will be introduced for offenders who cause the death of emergency services workers while committing a crime, the government has announced. The law change is a triumph for Lissie Harper, who began campaigning after the death of her husband PC Andrew Harper in the line of duty. Offenders who kill emergency services workers to be given mandatory life sentences | The Independent This is a separate topic, but it's also very much an example of how liberal compassionate forgiving laws cannot ultimately exist for very long in the presence of high amounts of diversity and foreign migration. The society will lose its social cohesiveness and transform into a society that is more defensive and vengeful.
....interesting comment....difficult to argue with to be honest......UK seems to be more interested in defending the perceived rights of those who intend harm rather then defend the rights of those victims who are harmed. And then as you say we get all high and mighty about the consequences of allowing those who intend us harm when they actually do harm - which smacks of vengence rather than justice.
