[ElProximo]

Originally Posted by LeatherTrumpet

The former prime minister's wife, who sits as a judge as Cherie Booth QC, told Shamso Miah that she would suspend his prison sentence because he was a "religious man".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...religious.html

What do you make of this?

First I object to the description 'Religious'. This is akin to saying 'Citizen' or 'Club Member'. What religion? What organization?
There is no such religion as 'The Religion' where 'Religion followers' practice 'Religion'.
OK.
Getting to the point here:
- There cannot be any difference for a (muslim, tory, christian, chelsea fan) in the Courts.
IF anything you might argue that some ought to 'know better' as maybe their organization emphasizes (for example) thou should not punch peoples faces,
but,
the main thing here is that everyone is equal. Lady Justice is blind. Everyone is under the same contract. They are not 'more guilty' for the invalid reasons they give either.

Now here might be where you CAN make a case:
- To some extent the incarceration is not only to punish or penalize but is also to protect the public.
IF he has shown he has been actively participating in organized society and NOT assaulting people (and even helping),
and,
Its is shown he is sincerely dedicating himself to a system of teachings opposing face-punching?
You can make a case he is demonstrating he does not need to be locked away from people and may better serve out his sentence some other way (community service is a good option for this dude).

Now the 'twist' here is getting back to 'what religion' or 'what organization' are they attending.
In this case I might suppose that if the man is demonstrating more dedication to Islam then that is all the more reason to be afraid of him carrying out more violence in the future.

But yeah.. interesting topic and some good questions here.