Tough on crime - don't make me laugh

This Labour government conned its way to power by lying about many things, economic prudence was one but they also tried to appeal to Conservative voters by promising to be tough on crime. This promise was as false as their other ones, as one would expect from a party that garners so much support from the left-wing "socially responsible" Guardanistas. Today I learnt that far from punishing career criminals the Labour government's justice system is letting them off. The Mail reports that:

"Criminals who have already served more than ten jail sentences are being routinely let-off with community punishments when they offend again, it has emerged.

Figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice show the result is the equivalent of 5,000 burglars, thieves and other convicts a year escaping with a slap on the wrist.

The total has more than doubled in five years as the courts - under pressure from the Government - struggle to cope with record prison over-crowding.

Rather than send some of the worst repeat offenders to jail, they are handing out community penalties instead.

The revelations came on a day when ministers were forced to admit 36,661 inmates have been released from jail early to ease overcrowding since last June.

Of these, 111 are on the run after breaching the terms of their release."

Let's have a think; what are the chances of a career burglar re-offending whilst on Community Service? Let's say it is just 50% although we all know it will be nearer 100% as the individual is a career burglar, someone who has been sentenced at least 10 times for the same offence and who has almost certainly escaped detection by the Police and sentence by the courts on numerous previous occasions. Now what are the chances of a convicted burglar committing a burglary whilst serving a prison sentence? Let's say it should, even with the poor security in many prisons, be somewhat closer to 0%. So as a law-abiding home-owner, would you rather the career burglar be sent to prison or have a community sentence?