WIFE-BATTERING TO JOIN THE LIST OF "OK" CRIMES IN BRITAIN

You can get off with just a warning in Britain for burglary, car-theft and assault (See here) and it seems that wife-beating is next on the list for being yawned at by the "justice" system there

Men and women who attack their partners should have the chance to avoid being sent to jail if they appear genuinely sorry for their violence, according to sentencing proposals published yesterday. Instead, wife-beaters could receive a suspended prison sentence or community order. The proposals also recommend that perpetrators of domestic violence attend courses to tackle their offending, even though it is too early to know if they are effective in curbing violence.

The head of the leading domestic violence charity attacked the draft guidelines. Sandra Horley, chief executive of Refuge, said: "It would be a travesty if the Sentencing Guidelines Council proposals on domestic violence come into effect. In short they give men a licence to batter women as long as they are able to put on a remorseful act in front of a judge." She condemned the council for putting forward the proposals after years in which women had fought to persuade the Government and justice system to take domestic violence seriously. "Women and children need protection and deserve justice. Living in safety is a human right," Ms Horley said.

The proposals come after women's groups expressed alarm that courts were not treating rape seriously enough. They are also likely to cause concern in the Government, which has repeatedly called for the courts to treat domestic violence seriously. Two weeks ago Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, a Home Office minister, said: "Domestic and sexual crimes are some of the most damaging physically and emotionally to victims and it is essential that victims have the confidence to stand up for their right to live without fear of violence. "As well as increasing support for victims, we are sending a strong message to perpetrators that these crimes will not be tolerated."

The Sentencing Guidelines Council, which issues guidelines to the courts in England and Wales, said that cases of domestic violence should be treated as no less seriously than any other crime of violence. But in draft guidelines out for consultation until June 12, the council added that offenders who were remorseful could receive a non-custodial sentence, including supervision by the Probation Service. It said: "If the court is satisfied that the offender genuinely intends to reform his/her behaviour, and there is a real prospect of rehabilitation being successful, it may be appropriate to impose a sentence that will allow the offender to be rehabilitated. Rather than the imposition of a short custodial sentence, an appropriate disposal in such situations might be a suspended sentence order or a community order, in either case with a requirement to attend a domestic violence programme."

The council, chaired by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the Lord Chief Justice, outlined the type of case where a convicted wife-beater could escape jail. It said they could be where an attacker "shows genuine signs of remorse" or where both partners want to stay together.

The Probation Service runs an Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme in which offenders attend a series of classes for 12 to 13 weeks. It is too early, however, to evaluate whether it is effective or not. A study based on a sample of 134 female victims of domestic violence showed that a third of men completing an abuser programme and more than two thirds jailed or fined committed a further act of domestic violence within a year of being sentenced.

The guidelines said that domestic violence should be punished more severely by the courts if it was witnessed by children, or if they were aware of it taking place elsewhere in the home. They also emphasised that any assertion that the victim had "provoked" an attack should be "treated with great care". If the victim expressed any pleas for mercy on their partner's behalf, the courts should be sure that they were genuine views and not expressed under duress or put them at risk of further violence, it added. The guidelines have gone to consultation before a final version is drawn up.

Nearly half of all female murder victims are killed by their partners or former partners. According to the British Crime Survey, 26 per cent of women and 17 per cent of men aged 16 to 69 have experienced domestic violence. The survey estimated that there are 15 million separate incidents a year. A Home Office spokesman said last night that the guidelines were only in draft form and the Government would comment in due course. David Davis, Shadow Home Secretary, said: "Discretion as proposed by the Sentencing Guidelines Council should only ever be used with extreme caution. Mistakes in this area could result in the most appalling consequences."

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Man pleads guilty to the fatal shootings that kept another man on death row

Months after he confessed on videotape to two killings that kept another man on death row for almost 17 years, a Milwaukee man pleaded guilty to the crimes. Alstory Simon agreed to a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to 37 years in prison for the 1982 murder of Marilyn Green. He also pleaded guilty on Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter in the death of Jerry Hillard, 18, and was given a 15-year sentence to be served concurrently.

The deaths of Green, 19, and Hillard, 18, had left Anthony Porter convicted of murder and on death row. He was released in February after Simon confessed the killings to a private investigator, who was working for a Northwestern University journalism professor and his investigative reporting class. The investigator elicited the confession from Simon by using a phony eyewitness account. In the confession, Simon said he acted in self-defense.

Simon, a 49-year-old laborer who has lived in Milwaukee since 1982, had no connection to Porter. They were simply at the same pool in Washington Park on the night of the fatal shootings, said Thomas V. Gainer, an assistant Cook County state's attorney. Porter was released from prison and is living in Chicago.

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