tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post4688644889522643721..comments2024-03-19T08:40:36.481+11:00Comments on Life with Aspergers: Campaigning against Apathy - The Manchester BullyingGavin Bollardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13833941398375568706noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-86833712039944224742017-01-08T10:03:09.071+11:002017-01-08T10:03:09.071+11:00This is absolutely disgusting. What kind of judge ...This is absolutely disgusting. What kind of judge hands out such light sentences to cruel thugs who tormented an innocent person with special needs. This poor victim will live with the pain of this event forever. The judge, the parents and the perpetrators should be held accountable. Spreading autism awarenesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09989427014276137501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-80133723168927048952010-10-18T09:02:49.747+11:002010-10-18T09:02:49.747+11:00I always wonder if judges who prescribe lenient se...I always wonder if judges who prescribe lenient sentences for bullying were ones who grew up doing the bullying, or the ones who watched while others bullied and blamed the victims for the their predicaments. It is absolutely appalling that people get locked up for stealing expensive property, but those who torture humans get a slap on the wrist. It is a screwed up sense of priorities to be sure. It is exactly like rape, and now I wonder if the rapists are going free also. Criminals who get away with this kind of behavior nearly always escalate to worse later. This is exactly the kind of situation I fear for my own children, who are nearly incapable of defending themselves or avoiding a trap such as this.Silknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4841851020927689161.post-80693886322924126672010-10-18T08:27:41.833+11:002010-10-18T08:27:41.833+11:00That sounds horrific... but your source is the Dai...That sounds horrific... but your source is the Daily Mail, a 'newspaper' which is well-known in the UK for being full of complete fabrications (google "Daily Mail lies" and you'll soon see what I mean). However, assuming for the moment it's true...<br /><br />In Britain recently we've started moving away from custodial sentencing and towards community-based sentencing, partly because we now have a more liberal government and partly because we've run out of money and don't have any prison space, so the first thing to note is that this *isn't* a case of being prejudiced against the victim for having Asperger's. <br /><br />Reading between the lines , what this looks like to me (and I live in Manchester, have Asperger's, and know how these things tend to work around here) is a plea bargain. Almost certainly these people were originally charged with grievous bodily harm (which would get a prison sentence) and were persuaded to plead guilty to assault and actual bodily harm (I'm assuming those were the charges), in order to save the victim the stress of a trial. <br /><br />The reason this has been publicised is that there's very likely to be a *VERY* close by-election in a neighbouring constituency very soon, and the Labour Party (who run Manchester, and whose Hazel Blears is quoted there) want to paint the Liberal Democrats (the junior partner in the current government, and the main challenger in that seat) as 'soft on crime'. <br /><br />It's entirely reasonable to disagree with the way we deal with crimes of this nature, but it doesn't seem like this has been dealt with especially differently from many other cases of its nature, and singling out this one gang of thugs when plenty more go ignored doesn't seem to me to be a sensible way to go about things...Andrew Hickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07412263807838661843noreply@blogger.com