NOTE:  Thr following was written prior to the report that Sarah Everard's murderer received a whole-life

term.  My idea of proper retribution/justice...IF it stands.

Some thoughts on a social aberration that continues to haunt society.

Every generation faces the same old conumdrum: how to control the human predators that seek to prey

upon the innocent and vulnerable.  Today, we like to consider ourselves "enlightened" in our treatment

of criminal behaviour; so much so that it really does seem that more time and consideration is given

to the malefactor than the victim, even resulting in official attempts to address that misgiving.  There is a

certain arrogance in the belief that evil can be mollified.  Perhaps religion has had an ulterior effect in

this regard over many years.  So often we would hear: Turn the other cheek/forgive us our trespasses et al.

My own lifetime has seen the appearance of The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, - with a title that

clearly signals its belief that such a thing is possible.  But what of the irredeemable...the predators

that persist through generational humanity to inflict their vile murderous behaviour on the unwary and

unsuspecting.?  Somehow, the Law hasn't caught up; hasn't found the courage and commitment to

inflict "justice" on these perpetrators.  Lawyers manipulate the law - from Parliament across the legal

spectrum, so that we now have  legally defined "degrees" of killing a fellow human being, with various

reasons written into the law books to reduce the culpability of the accused.  In this age, "life imprisonment"

-- even for more than one killing - is rarely more limited double figures - with "parole boards" waiting to

exercise legally provided reasons to release the killer back amongst the rest of us.  "Life imprisonment"

is now little more than a pitiful concession to its reality.  Society has lost the courage to signal its intent to

protect and preserve via the infliction of condign punishment.  It shrinks from "revenge" when it shoud be

loudly justifying the use of "retribution".  There will always be the beasts among us and we fail each other

if we fail to accept that reality and lack the fortitude and social conscience required to send a signal to the

predators:  Commit the crime at your very REAL peril!  

The sheer terror, the gut-wrenching fear experienced by an unsuspecting victim when realising that

trust has been abused, the body violated and the imminence of violent death is upon them, HAS to be

recognised and responded to when imposing punishment upon the perpetrator.  Justice must be

the intention of the legal process, not some sort of "snakes and ladders" game played by lawyers in

court rooms and parole boards in private rooms. 

The likes of Sarah Everard (and many others) deserve nothing less.

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