On one of my cable channels last week I saw one of those cop shows, and they videotaped some guy beating the living crap out of another guy. The victim ended up in the hospital for 3 weeks due to the severe head trauma. The attacker was released and later fined 60 pounds in spite of all the witnesses and evidence of the quite severe assault.
Eagl, I suspect this sis one of those cases, like taps/faucets, where you are simply wrong about Britain.
There are various degrees of assault of in Britain.
Common assault is the least serious, where no proper injury is caused. It usually isn't prosecuted, although is in some cases. The definition of common assault is where injury is no more severe than "minor bruising" or a black eye.
Actual bodily harm is an assault that causes minor injury, like more severe bruising, broken nose, broken tooth, needs stitches etc.
Grievous bodily harm covers more serious assaults, with injuries like broken limbs, permament scarring and in particular "injuries resulting in lengthy treatment or incapacity" (from the crown prosecution definitions)
There is a more serious version, GBH with intent, where it can be shown that the person
intended to cause such wounds.
Severe head trauma, resulting in 3 weeks in hospital, clearly comes under the definition of GBH.
The most recent figures I have, for 2002, show that 61% of those convicted or pleading guilty for GBH recieved an immediate prison sentence (ie not suspended), the average being 27.7 months in prison.
If the person you saw recieved only a £60 fine, either he was convicted of a much lesser charge or there were very special circumstances involved.
If the injuries were as severe as you describe (and I wouldn't trust the media to report it accurately), then either the court decided the defendent didn't inflict them, or he got off on a technicality.
Either way, the normal sentence for the crime you describe is a couple of years in prison.
THAT is what is the most f**ked up about England. You can nearly kill someone and get fined 60 pounds, but if you kill an armed intruder in your own house you go to jail as a murderer.
Care to name a case?
If you kill an armed intruder in your house, you only have to plead self defence.
In the last 15 years, there have been 11 prosecutions for people who attacked intruders. I can name a few.
Tony Martin. Shot dead an unarmed youth as he ran away, after previously announcing his intention of killing the next person who tried to rob him. Had a history of firearms offences, including shooting at a man he caught stealing apples from a tree.
Carl Lindsay. Drug dealer selling drugs from his flat. 4 customers tried to rob him with an imitation gun, he chased them outside and stabbed one of them repeatedly in the back with a samurai sword as he ran away (outside his house).
Barry-Lee Hastings. Stabbed an unarmed burgular 12 times in the back, including several times when the burgular was lying face down in the garden outside.
Steven Parkin. Confronted 3 men who were trying to steal a vehicle from his demolition business in the night. All 3 ran, Parkin attacked one with a pickaxe handle, then stabbed him in the back of the knee, causing massive loss of blood. The burgular died, the case against Parkin was thrown out on the directions of the judge.
Brett Osborn. Stabbed an unarmed burgular 5 times in the back. Both Osborn and the burgular were high on crack at the time, and Osborn was also sentenced to 2.5 years for benefit fraud. Osborn pleaded guilty to manslaughter. (from what I've seen of the case, he should have gone to a jury, who would have aquitted him on the grounds of self defence)
That's almost half the people who have been prosecuted for tackling intruders in the last 15 years. In one of the cases the intruder had an imitation firearm, but the "victim" was a drug dealer engaged in selling drugs at the time, who chased and stabbed the man. In the other cases, the intruder was unarmed.
I can, if you like, give you several cases where an armed intruder was killed by a homeowner who was not prosecuted.
Eagl, I'm sorry to say, but after reading your postings on AGW as well, I have to think there's something in your attitude when approaching people.
For example:
I've found that regular people in the UK are nice but service employees are collectively the biggest group of jerkwads I've ever come across. Every single one I've met in the last 3 weeks has a compulsion to prove themselves superior to mere "colonials". Both my wife and I have been systematically lied to, called liars, ignored, insulted, and been told in no uncertain terms that we have no business being here and any preferences we may have regarding services we are using/purchasing do not matter because we don't own anything here.
Requests for actual customer service are met with a supercilious smile and then ignored or refused.
I like lots of stuff in the UK and I have met some really nice people here, but it took me less than 2 weeks to realize why my ancestors left here and never came back. The country is run by a bunch of sheep, with the heirarchy being determined by how much money you have or how you were born. Holding your place in society is measured by how much of a salamander each particular sheep is, and they gain status by showing people like me how worthless we are. It's both sad and disgusting.
I'm determined to leave as little money in this country as possible by doing everything possible to buy only from on-base stores and mail order, but it's clear that even "voting with your wallet" doesn't work here because a lower-status person isn't worth pursuing as a customer because having someone like me as a customer actually decreases the status of a company. That's fine with me, and I'll leave here knowing that the world will march on leaving the stuck-up salamanders here in the dark ages where they belong. I have a new mission in life - to get at least 1 jerkwad brit fired from an on-base job per year while I'm here. I don't have the option to leave so if they're not going to do the job that my govt is paying them to do, they can get the hell out. The whole base knows the service here sucks and our leadership has several programs in place to address the problem, so maybe we can get some people in here who aren't above providing service to lowly Americans.
LTjgmn, an American who visits Britain quite frequently, posted this:
I don't quibble with your experiences, eagl. But you have turned a tongue-in-cheek post about the good and bad things in Britain into a crusade against them, and I would just like you to remember that Brits DO read this forum, and are only going to see another Ugly American. If you feel so strongly about your treatment there, why not write the same article in the local newspaper? Post it on the library bulletin board?
And Eagl's response:
So, let me get this straight...
To complain about being treated in a very bad fashion is to be an "ugly american"?
To say that a service employee who does not provide service, and in fact actively places barriers against achieving official business should be fired is being an "ugly american"?
Saying that incompetent and rude service employees ought to do their jobs or be fired is being an "ugly american"?
Saying that blantantly sexist behavior in a customer service job is not acceptable is being an "ugly american"?
If that's your standard, then piss off, you're one of the "bad ones" and your attitude is exactly what has made my short stay here a living hell. I have not asked for a single thing other than a few people do the job they're paid to do, yet in your mind that brands me as an ugly american.
It's not a crusade against brits. You're trying to make excuses for a bunch of lousy people with lousy attitudes and lousy behavior. Get off of your high moral stepstool and re-read what I wrote before placing yourself in the same corner as the rude people who have been intentionally making moving to a new country a living hell for literally thousands of US servicemen, women, and their spouses.
http://agw.bombs-away.net/showthread.php?t=28931&highlight=hate+britainEagl, with every post, you seem to me to have a chip on your shoulder, and I think that's coming across in the way you are being treated in the shops here.
