Planet Normal: Robert Jenrick was right to reject ‘two-tier justice' by the Sentencing Council
'No mitigating factors for you if you're white, straight, or Christian, or indeed part of the British majority'
On the latest Planet Normal podcast, which you can listen to using the audio player above, columnists Liam Halligan and Allison Pearson discuss the concerns raised by the Shadow Justice Secretary regarding sentencing guidelines.
Britain's justice system and police force are under scrutiny, with concerns about a two-tier legal framework and a crackdown on free speech.
Allison condemned the Sentencing Council's now-withdrawn proposal for special considerations, 'This council was basically about to destroy equality before the law introducing special consideration by judges for certain protected characteristics. And that meant that they were going to ask for pre-sentencing reports if a defendant was from an ethnic minority group or a particular religious or sexual group.'
In regards to the police Liam believes the College of Policing should be abolished, 'It is insane what the police are doing with taxpayers money, spending their time ticking little boxes saying they've solved crimes because they have called people out on social media.'
'Our police do get quite a hard time from the media, I think sometimes they deserve it, but I think regular rank and file coppers are decent people. What are cops saying in private when they're sitting in their cars, outside people's houses who've been a bit fruity on social media, going into them, maybe even arresting them. They must be sitting there saying to each other, 'this is mad.''
Elsewhere Allison speaks to Ray Connolly about the sentencing of his wife Lucy, for a tweet she briefly posted on the day of the Southport murders.
Planet Normal, a weekly Telegraph podcast featuring news and views from beyond the bubble. Listen on the audio player above or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred podcast app.
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