A U.K. judge handed down shockingly harsh sentences to peaceful climate activists, sparking outrage and disbelief. Is this justice or suppression of dissent?
My assumption is that they’re aiming for a penalty sufficient to get people to stop doing stuff like this. You don’t punish for the sake of punishment, but to deter. If they stop, there’s no reason to have more-severe penalties. If people keep doing it anyway, consider the penalties not a deterrent, then I’d assume that sentences will increase in severity.
The sentences are the longest since the introduction by the last government of the new law of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, in a bid to clamp down on disruptive protests.
The court heard the intention was to block most of the M25, preventing traffic from other roads from joining the motorway.
The action resulted in chaos on the M25 over four successive days, causing nearly 51,000 hours of driver delays, the court heard. The protests closed parts of the motorway in Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.
People missed flights, medical appointments and exams. Two lorries collided, and a police motorcyclist came off his bike during one of the protests on 9 November 2022 while trying to bring traffic to a halt in a “rolling road block”.
Prosecutors alleged the protests led to an economic cost of at least £765,000, while the cost to the Metropolitan Police was put at more than £1.1m.
My assumption is that they’re aiming for a penalty sufficient to get people to stop doing stuff like this. You don’t punish for the sake of punishment, but to deter. If they stop, there’s no reason to have more-severe penalties. If people keep doing it anyway, consider the penalties not a deterrent, then I’d assume that sentences will increase in severity.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c880xjx54mpo