Sometimes the element of real justice in the world is a distant ideal; one that seems as far away from doing the right thing as it could ever be. There have been some very strange sentences past recently that only help to reinforce that belief that justice is never really served.

One case in the UK involved a gang of five youths that attacked a gothic-looking couple, the result of the unprovoked attack was the death of the gothic girl as she was aiding her boyfriend from the initial assault.

Now for such an act of brutality you’d think that justice would see that all five attackers were banished from society for the rest of their days? How wrong could you be, the sentence was officially termed “life” but was only 15 years for the 17 year-old “leader”, a 16-year old received a 12-year sentence and the “followers” were each given lesser sentences.

The sad fact is a 21-year old woman was killed for the way she chose to look, nothing more than that; her life is over but theirs is not. When they get released they’ll have a fair chunk of life to live, she will only be a memory to her loved ones, taken by mindless yobs.

A “life” sentence should mean that, no chance should be allowed people that deem murder to be an acceptable act in a so-called decent society. The justice system is flawed if it thinks these laughable sentences are in any way a deterrent to the actions of the immoral sub-humans that exist in our neighbourhoods.

In another case, the exact opposite should have happened, a woman in the USA apparently killed her abusive husband after many years of violence in their marriage; she later dismembered his body. The system adjudged her a murderer and gave her a life sentence, but in reflection of the reasoning behind her actions, handing out a life sentence is totally unjustified in this case.

Her actions were the build up of many years, it wasn’t an unprovoked assault (unlike the five in the previous case) and to give the message that to be abused and be given the ultimate punishment for it after taking the only action open to her, it’s just wrong.

Justice needs an overhaul and quickly, if this means more people serving longer sentences then fill up all the prisons, society needs to know that all the “evil-doers” are kept away from the rest of us, sentencing also needs to reflect circumstances as well. Putting people behind bars for something they couldn’t really avoid is no justice at all!