In other news: today was a busy day for gun articles. This may be a source of progressive anxiety for some, but I am rather pro firearm myself.
Surely "a whole bunch of people have been shot recently" is bad regardless of whether you like guns or not. Unless you're pro firearm and pro people-being-shot-with-firearms.
Long investigation (18/19 years!) into racially motivated murder secures conviction, but the law requires lean senteces. Review pending. (Stepehn Lawrence case, where both conviceted killers (now adults) were sentenced as children due to thier ages when they commited the crime, which was also before sentencing guidelines for hate crimes were established: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16430633)
They're basically life sentences. I read the whole judge's statement and even if they get released after 15 years they'll still effectively be on "parole" forever. They can be called back into jail if they're ever judged to be a risk to the public again.
And... I hate to say this, but this is one area where I may have to praise the Daily Mail. Because really, their pressure was possibly quite important for keeping the case open and finally securing convictions. Their "
Murderers" headline was pretty controversial and illegal, but I suppose they've been proved right on two of those men now... ugh, I don't know really. I disagree with their method there but agree with their drive to help bring justice to some of the killers.