Re: Manchester CPS go mad

hwake@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Stephen Glynn wrote:
'Legal proceedings against a 10-year-old boy over alleged racist name
calling have been labelled political correctness gone mad, by a judge.

'The boy from Irlam, Greater Manchester, was summonsed to court accused
of racially abusing a fellow pupil.

'Judge Jonathan Finestein told Salford Youth Court the boys would have
been given "a good clouting" in his day.

'Adjourning it to 20 April, he asked prosecutors to reconsider whether
the case was in the public interest.

'The boy is accused of abusing an 11-year-old pupil in a school
playground between 1 July 2005 and 30 January 2006.

'The court was told that the boys are now friends and play football with
each other.

'But Mr Finestein said he thought the decision to prosecute the
youngster was "crazy" and urged the Crown Prosecution Service to
reconsider its decision.

'"Have we really got to the stage where we are prosecuting 10-year-old
boys because of political correctness?

'"I was repeatedly called fat at school. Does this amount to a criminal
offence?

'He added: "Nobody is more against racist abuse than me but these are
boys in a playground, this is nonsense.

'"I think somebody should consider reversing the decision to prosecute."

'A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said the force took all
crimes seriously and was totally opposed to any racism.'


But this wasn't a crime and "any racism" is no business of the police!

Furthermore, the report in the Telegraph said that the boy had
previously been called 'white trash' (looks like the BBC missed that
out - why?), so why wasn't that perpetrator prosecuted?


The alleged crime would be some form of public order offence, racially aggravated. That's fair enough; if the two lads were aged 18 and one of them persistently harassed the other, on racial grounds or any other, he'd probably find himself in court, and quite right too. Same as if two 18-year-olds get into a fight on their way home from the pub. What seems to me extraordinary is that the CPS should choose to prosecute a 10-year-old, whether for harassment or for common assault (which a playground fight certainly is) as a result of a scrap in the playground.

Steve
.

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