Tories announce new crime legislation

http://sympaticomsn.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060504/crime_tories_060504

Okay, five years for a first time weapons offence???!!! That's fucked of course it doesn't say what kind of offence. But, I like to think a 19-year-old kid dumb enough to carry a handgun because he thinks it makes him tough isn't going to serve five years for getting caught with it at a police roadcheck.
I mean, yeah, he shouldn't have it, but some kids that age are just dumb and have no intent to use it. Aren't we sending them to a place where they will become harder criminals?

For the past decade at least, the UK (in common with many other Western nations) has seen a growing trend in juvenile violence. Apart from so-called 'happy slapping' and cyberstalking, there are indications that bullying is on the rise in schools, as are racially-motivated attacks.

This has resulted in many normally nonviolent children resorting to carrying knives and other weapons on the streets and in school, as a form of self defense. In spite of many initiatives aimed at controlling bullying and intimidation (exclusion, reassignment to 'special' schools for persistent offenders, antisocial behavior orders etc.), many young people feel they can expect no protection from their teachers (who are themselves under seige from unruly students) or the legal authorities.

So the Tories are essentially in favor of legislation that punishes the victims as much or more so than the criminals. Which is pretty much what the Tories have always stood for.