Too soft too harsh ? BTEC Law introduction to Sentencing

I have recently been introducing my BTEC level 2 students to the concept of sentencing and asked them what they thought about the sentencing in the UK and across the world. They gave various typical examples such as having your hands chopped off for stealing and refered to the death penalty in some states in America. I asked them to guess the sentence given to various images and cases that I had displayed and we had a good discussion of whether it was enough or was too harsh.

The first image that I had displayed was Linda Sandiford as the suburban smuggler in Bali and asked what sentence they thought she should receive and I then put up various other sentences such as the Venables sentencing and Jordan Blackshaw, 21, of Vale Road, Marston and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22 who were inciting disorder during the London riots. Some students shared some examples they were aware of from the local area and the discussion lead onto analysing the reason for sentencing and whether sentencing truly works. A really thought provoking session with students linking the reasons for sentencing with the types of sentence available.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/20/british-grandmother-cocaine-smuggling-bali

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14551265