Monday, February 04, 2013

'Life' is a lie

Pardon my naivety but 'life' imprisonment sounds like a very long sentence. One that should encompass the remainder of one's life.

Gwenda Sloane has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Michelle Hoffman-Tamm in Rotorua last November.
The judge has also imposed a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.

Many women could fit 5 such  'lives' into their natural term of existence.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which is why "life" sentences are a joke - and the only solution is to shoot 'em - ideally as early as possible, i.e. by Cops with Glocks - avoiding all the unnecessary expense of remand, lawyers,judges, courts, prisons, parole, etc.

Anonymous said...

A life sentence carries with it preventative detention - which means that she will be in prison for the rest of her life and must serve a minimum of 17 years before being allowed to apply for parole.

Despite what SST say about parole, its acutally hard to get, especially for first time applicants. Assuming she is the model prisoner and completes a raft of measures that addresses her offending, she will be in prison for a very long time.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, that should have said, "...she will STILL be in prison for a very long time."

FYI - love the blog Lindsay; been a fan of your welfare commentary for years!

Anonymous said...

she will be in prison for a very long time.

RIght - and we'll be paying for it

And she will get out.



Cops with Glocks™ solves both those problems

Johnny said...

Being a Sky TV subscriber and an avid CI channel watcher (Crime and Investigation), I am so often jealous of the American sentences handed down for murders. Life usually means never to be released.

But the best part is how many guilty pleas are negotiated in exchange for not seeking the death penalty. So someone liable for a death penalty says, what will I get if I plead guilty: answer: life instead of death. If only.

And yes, prisoners cost us far too much money per head. Like at least double and probably more like quadruple what they should cost us.

Anonymous said...

Which is why "life" sentences are a joke - and the only solution is to shoot 'em - ideally as early as possible, i.e. by Cops with Glocks - avoiding all the unnecessary expense of remand, lawyers,judges, courts, prisons, parole, etc.

And what happens when the cop shoots you dead for a crime that you didn't commit?

Moronic, immature comments like yours add zero to the debate.

@Johnny - on average a prisoner costs $98,800 per year. You also argue contradictory positions.

"Keep them in prison longer" but "they cost us too much" - keeping them in prison forever is going to cost the government alot more than =<100k per year. How do you justify a figure of x2 or x4?

Johnny said...

Sorry, Anonymous, not interested in discussing rants posted as "anonymous". Nickname fine, even Johnny doesn't define who I am, but not anonymous. Silly of me, I know.

monique hoffman-tamm said...

i am the daughter of michelle hoffman tamm
gwenda sloane was known as a aunty to me
life is a disgusting joke as the 17 years she was given my mother would of still been fit and healthy at that stage of her life or my children her grandchildren would of had memories of her atleast instead of what they have to struggle to remember of her past her murder, enough said and im left to pick up the pieces and try to survive covering her funeral costs and being a solo mum.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

Thanks Monique

The trial - and beyond - must have been a terrible ordeal.

The son of a great lady said...

I am the son of Mitchell tamm Hoffman and the joke you are Monique all the cost of mums passing were covered by the love of our family and you payed not a dime just wanted you to know that yes our mother was taken from us in justly but I have to let you all know that what you say Monique is a discrace to the memories of her an the fact that you can say that you are struggling with the cost of this is a terrible lie account covers the death in tragic passing from this I grew up every day with qwendas son as my best friend I can never forgive for the pain she has caused all of us an I belive it should be a life for a life

The son of a great lady said...

I am the son of Mitchell tamm Hoffman and the joke you are Monique all the cost of mums passing were covered by the love of our family and you payed not a dime just wanted you to know that yes our mother was taken from us in justly but I have to let you all know that what you say Monique is a discrace to the memories of her an the fact that you can say that you are struggling with the cost of this is a terrible lie account covers the death in tragic passing from this I grew up every day with qwendas son as my best friend I can never forgive for the pain she has caused all of us an I belive it should be a life for a life