Re: Max Fine
@davcrav
It's tangential to my point but I was being serious with my examples. I did prisoner support a dozen years ago and met people inside for not paying their TV licence, stealing a sandwich and possessing marijuana.
The Ministry of Justice said that from 2005-2014, a total of 353 people were handed custodial sentences for not paying fines for not having a TV licence. That's just England and Wales so add another 35 for Scotland. I fully admit they were jailed for not paying the fines but if they can't afford the licence then they can't afford the fines, so it's a distinction without a difference. I think the licence fee is unnecessary, and the BBC should be self-funding by selling it's content and cutting its costs. There is no logic in why it is illegal to watch live ITV.
I realise the prosecution of possession of marijuana has changed in the past decade, and so has the categorisation. They all are just labelled 'drugs offences' now in the official documents I can find, regardless of class. I met various prisoners who were in for possession back then, and I can point to numerous cases of people in prison for growing. Complete waste of police and prison expense.
One of my friends was imprisoned for stealing a policeman's sandwich, after he'd arrested her for stealing a sandwich from a shop. She was a persistent shoplifter but was only charged with the one sandwich. Albeit she also pointed out the officer was a "fat peeg". She'd lived on the streets with no income for a year because the DWP wrongly told her she couldn't claim benefits as a Spaniard. Again, now all the data just lists 'shoplifters' rather than the seriousness of the thefts.