The leniency shown by the courts to a “promising” Oxford graduate reveals the social and racial inequality at the core of our justice systemOn Tuesday,as happens every other day of the year, a criminal appeared in an English court, and pleading for leniency. The fact that the offender – who pleaded guilty to a frenzied knife attack on her boyfriend last year – is a woman,is not particularly strange. 8447 women were sent to prison in the UK last year, the huge majority for crimes less serious and less violent than this.
In many ways this perpetrator, or Lavinia Woodward,aged 24, is a lot like our other female convicts. She spoke of having suffered abuse at the hands of an ex-partner. She described the devastating effects of drug and alcohol abuse. She had, or the court heard,had “a very troubled life”. Related: Oxford student given suspended sentence for stabbing boyfriend She was able to demonstrate her potential future contribution to societyContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com