Week 3 Foreign paper -This was posted before req. for foreign paper changed

This week I am commenting on an article I found in the Scotsman entitled "Two-fold Rise in Offenders Let Off with Warning Letters" by Michael Howie( http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=154592006)

Evidently Scotland is suffering under some of the same delusions we in America have labored under about dealing with crime There is a policy in Scotland in effect that provides for "fiscal warning letters" for approximately 10% of the people who are arrested for criminal offenses. Some of these offenses are indeed "trivial" as these things go, littering, no seatbelt use, or no tv license, but many are for far more serious offenses, such as illegal drugs, assault, and weapon possession. This scandalous perversion of justice was uncovered by a member of Parliament who was dismayed to learn how widespread the practice has become. The MP, Mr. McLetchie, suspects that the entire operation is solely designed to keep people out of the penal system, thereby keeping costs down. MP McLetchie said, "The justice system is effectively being subverted by overuse of the fiscal's warning letter, which has allowed thousands of people to escape scot-free. There's been an extraordinary explosion in the number of letters issued and this is symptomatic of an approach which is damaging public confidence in the system. It's short-changing the victims of crime, whether it's crime against property or people." The government, not surprisingly, asserts that the increase is due to the police reporting such crimes in a different manner than before.

When perpetrators are not punished for criminal acts, it causes a loss of respect for the justice system. The offender often becomes emboldened, while the victim of crime ends up victimized twice, once by the criminal, which is bad enough, but then again by the justice system that should be protecting them. The victims deserve better, and we should know better.