Tim Worstall

James Bulger’s killer Jon Venables proves vengeance does not work. Now it’s time for mercy
Mary Riddell.
Look at what actually happened to Jon Venables.
Horrific crime, trial, sentence, yes. Was he then thrown in a cell and the key chucked away? No, actually, he wasn’t.
He had the best education and upbringing the State could provide (we might [...]

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Burglary victims attacked in their own home once every 30 minutes
So how does this work then? Is there a queue outside? A rota system? You sign in on a clipboard?
“‘Ere, Darren, can I swap my 10:30 slot wiv’ you for the 9:30? Only it’s me Jobcentre time see an’ I ca’n miss out on tha’”?

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The murder rate has fallen to its lowest level in 20 years but police admit that the main reason may be the skills of paramedics and advances in medicine rather than a decline in violent attacks.
Murder is used as an indicative measure for overall crime. Because it’s one of the very few that are completely [...]

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The perils of life as a sporting Wag loom large this week. Tiger Woods appears to be in the doghouse after claims – malicious, I’m sure – of an extra-marital dalliance with a pillow-lipped birdie. But if it had been true, and wife Elin took revenge [...]

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Police spend £800,000 a year on music rights
Police forces are paying hundreds of thousands of pounds a year to allow officers to listen to music at their desks, in canteens and even in cell blocks.
Well, yes, I suppose it is news that police forces obey the law these days……

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An IT expert who produced fake train tickets worth more than £12,000 has been spared jail.
Jonathan Moore, 27, used his laptop to create near-perfect copies of season tickets that allowed him to travel free for two years.
His fraud was discovered only when a ticket inspector on a train to Brighton noticed a [...]

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Interesting point being made:
Since 1999 the Home Office has known that its methods for calculating rape convictions are wrong. The real conviction rate is not the publicly broadcast 10 per cent but closer to 50 per cent (it varies slightly from year to year). In a Minority Report (1) which I wrote for a Home [...]

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Two in three days.
A woman who falsely accused her ex-boyfriend of rape when he broke off their relationship was jailed yesterday for her ‘vile lies’.
Incidence of false rape claims seems to be 60 times higher than previously estimated…..if one every 6 months were to be taken as our previous estimate.

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In the Islamic Republic it is illegal to execute a young woman, regardless of her crime, if she is a virgin, he explained. Therefore a “wedding” ceremony is conducted the night before the execution: The young girl is forced to have sexual intercourse with a prison guard – essentially raped by her “husband.”

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They really are desperate, aren’t they?
There was something sensible-ish about the Criminal Compensation Board. If you had a criminal record then any compensation you got under the scheme was reduced.
Now they’re extending this scheme of discounts:
Under the new rules, a deduction must be made for any unspent convictions, including motoring offences, ‘unless there are exceptional [...]

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Cameron’s “Broken Britain” trope never refers to the fact that the risk of being a victim of any kind of crime was 40% in 1995 and is now 23%.
Risk? Percentage?
Does Polly mean that 23% of the population are victims of crime in any one year? What?

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Woman who cried rape after date with man she met in internet chatroom is jailed for a year
Hmmm…
A MOTHER of two who falsely accused her estranged husband of rape because she wanted him out of her life was jailed for four months yesterday.
Six months just seems to fly by these days.

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Civil servants have refused to name inmates who have fled prison even though individual police forces will often identify them if they pose a risk to the public.
They say releasing their names would breach obligations under the Data Protection Act.

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A MOTHER of two who falsely accused her estranged husband of rape because she wanted him out of her life was jailed for four months yesterday.
Surprising really, given how rare we’re told such cases are.

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Shows what happens when you take your eye off the ball.
What could be clearer evidence of guilt than that? As their solicitors told them, it did not matter that their computers had been examined and found to be free of child pornography, or that they could produce alibis to [...]

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Half of prison service staff personally experience sexually explicit language and sexual jokes and stories every week while at work, according to an internal survey of workers.
Female staff are more likely to experience unwanted persistent attention, bullying related to gender and inappropriate or unwanted touching.
What did anyone expect what with their being [...]

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SASKATOON, Saskatchewan (Reuters) – Six high-risk prisoners escaped a Canadian jail last summer after spending four months chipping a path to freedom with nail clippers and other makeshift tools, according to a government report released on Thursday.

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Our reporters posed as lobbyists acting for a foreign client who was setting up a chain of shops in the UK and wanted to secure an exemption from the Business Rates Supplements Bill. We selected 10 Lords who already had a number of paid consultancies. The three Conservative peers did not return our calls [...]

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The government is planning a radio station exclusively for the entertainment of Britain’s prisoners, which will cost taxpayers £2million, according to reports.

We’ve already relieved them of their liberty for their crimes. Now we’re going to pump Nicey and Smashey at them 12 hours a day? Surely that breaches something or other…the Hague Conventions? Geneva?

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The artists are squatting in the mews house of a property in Clarges Mews which sold for £22.5m in April 2007. The owners, Timekeeper Ltd, discovered the occupation in mid-December when they spotted a Christmas tree.
Timekeeper has instructed solicitors to apply for an eviction order. A hearing is due today at Central London county court [...]

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