No Contrition, No Penalty

Hard cases make bad law, no doubt, but bad law also makes hard cases. Certainly the thugs of Great Britain, of whom there are now terrifyingly many, may take comfort from the sentences passed recently on two young men, Dejon Thompson and Patrick Rowe, for the killing of a young Turkish man named Evren Anil. The case shows how little thugs have to fear from the law.

Anil, a man of 23 with a bright future, was in his car at a traffic light with his sister when one of the two young men threw a half-eaten chocolate bar into the car. Anil got out of his car to throw it back at them, but one of the young men held a knife to his throat and the other punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground and fracturing his skull. He died of his injuries eight days later.

The two men were each sentenced to four years behind bars, but having already served a year in prison waiting for the trial—and having been automatically granted remission of sentence, once a reward for good behavior—they will get out within 18 months. Anil’s sister, who not surprisingly has since emigrated, said, “If that’s the message we want to send out to our kids, then we should stop moaning about people being stabbed all the time.” Read more
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