Petition for poor little Arthur

Perhaps if the sentences weren't laughable in the first place then people wouldn't feel moved to start petitions.
The father could be out in 10 years or so.
Well, not laughable, really.

I have absolutely no sympathy for this pair and would have no issue with their sentences being changed to life if a review felt that was appropriate.

What I do think would be a problem would be a judicial system where individual sentences could be lengthened on the strength of public petitions. That would be a very dangerous road to go down.

No MissA maybe I didn't explain properly

I meant the other inmates who harm them.. I don't know what they are in for, could be minor offences

The American system can be brutal especially to people who haven’t committed the offence or did something when they were very young or caught up in something that wasn’t of their doing I cannot tolerate their system …but…. Having said that ours is by far to easy especially when there is no doubt at all This blxxxdy woman filmed her torturous treatment and the husband was heard egging her on so there can be absolutely no doubt as to who slowly tortured and killed that beautiful child in the most hideous way
I m glad there is no death penalty in this country mistakes can and do happen but the punishment must fit the crime and they need to lose their freedom for ever just as he has and if they do get a tough time in there I m afraid I ll feel no sympathy

My husband is a great fan of the American system of dishing out consecutive whole life sentences.

Life should mean life and they both should get life sentences. Quite a few have been released under a new name for good behaviour they could be in your community, living next door to your grandchildren. So many seem to reoffend why do we not stick to the original sentence.

I'm all for it.
Shockingly, apparently.

Little Arthur’s murder provoked a discussion on the death penalty in our house yesterday. I’ve always been against it, but cases like this do make you think.

That is, in the absence of the most appropriate sentence for taking a life in the way they chose to, of course.

Would you want them "rehabilitated" to have access to your children?
I don't want them to be touched, at all by other inmates, that would be wrong.
I want them to serve an appropriate sentence, which is life.

Some prisoners could never become better people VS. These two are prime examples.

I fully understand why people want them to suffer.

However the point of prison is meant to be punishment and rehabilitation is it not? Other inmates may feel justified in harming them but I don't think it's going to help them become better people

I would think there might be publicity if and when Hughes is granted parole, as in the case of Colin Pitchfork whose photo (admittedly 30 odd years old) was all over the press. Men have fewer ways of changing their appearance than women.

Algerias

An eye for an eye then? But it's not about revenge?

Hardly. She’d be being tortured for weeks before having her head bashed against the wall causing such severe injury she dies if that was the case.

Yea, that too.
He could set up a relationship with somebody, and presumably they'll be none the wiser?

My concern is rather more focused on the 21 years meted out to Hughes. I have said before that if he behaves himself in prison (and survives long enough) he could be out on parole in less than 10 years with time spent on remand being credited against his sentence.

There couldn't possibly be an "eye for an eye" punishment for what was done to Arthur.
So, that's a moot point, Alegrias.
A fitting punishment is a different matter, and a whole life sentence would be going part of the way towards it.

Nobody is arguing with the sentiment Chewbacca. Only that a legal system shouldn't be based on sentiment.

Anyway this has diverted from the OP about getting the petition signed, and obviously in a free country anybody can sign any petition they like.

I wish all hell and damnation on the pair of them. I hope that their time in prison is as hellish and terrifying as the life they visited on that child. And if that makes me "revengeful"; so be it. I can live with that. It will be easier than what they will have to live with.

I don't generally sign petitions online because I consider them to be an easy way to make people think they are doing something useful, when all they are doing is giving the government of the day a way of saying they're listening to us when they're not. So I didn't sign the Brexit one you mention.

29 years is a long time but I suppose being forced to stand facing a wall for 14hrs a day and being denied food would seem like a lifetime to a 6 yr old child.

An eye for an eye then? But it's not about revenge?

Algerias

Did you feel the same about the petition launched after the referendum on Brexit?That was signed by record numbers in a short space of time.

To equate a petition for longer sentences does not equate revenge. 29 years is a long time but I suppose being forced to stand facing a wall for 14hrs a day and being denied food would seem like a lifetime to a 6 yr old child.

There are petitions active about that on the site.
I signed those, too.

Conversely, perhaps you could start one to urge people to consider how long 29 years is?

MissAdventure

I certainly consider 29 years very lengthy; I just think it's nowhere near lengthy enough for someone who systematically tortured a child to death.

Then campaign to get the law changed.