'I do not think that word means what you think'

And people wonder why Britain’s crime rate is rising and people treat the criminal justice system like the joke it is….from the Telegraph:

”A teenage girl has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering her love rival - a 39-year-old mother of two…Ross, now 17, of Croydon, south London, pleaded guilty to murder and was ordered to be detained for life with a minimum term of 10 and a half years.”

So life in prison, for Brits, means 10 ½ years as long as you’re on your good behavior? In the immortal words of Indigo Montoya from The Princess Bride, "I do not think that word (life in prison) means what you think." They’re not engendering any respect for the system when word (life in prison) and deed (10 ½ years) are so widely disparate.

I also do not cast a blind eye to the deficiencies in our own system. A life sentence should be a life sentence and the added "without possibility of parole" shouldn't be required.

*****

Side note: This occurred in gun-free England…how is this possible? Gun are gone, right, so sweetness and love should prevail. Rantmeister’s axiom: If someone is dead set to kill some other sumbitch, they’re going to use whatever means comes to hand…be it gun, knife, baseball bat, car, poison, sword or Ronco Kitchen Magician. The tool is not the problem…and its elimination is not the solution.