Want to know something that kind of sucks about England? They love protecting the rights of criminals (unless they set fire to London).
Now, if I was to describe myself I'd probably mention my liberal inclined politics. However when I hear about the "human rights" laws set up for criminals my suppressed, redneck Uh-Merica! side comes out.
Here in England if a burglar breaks into your home you may be prosecuted if you use anything other than "reasonable force." Now no one can define reasonable force, so it can end up that you (the homeowner) could serve jail time and the criminal could go free. Now in the particular case linked above the homeowner caused permanent brain damage to the assailant; on the other hand his wife and young daughters were tied up face down and threatened with murder. Remember that thing called fight or flight? What if your body chooses fight? Don't you have the right to protect yourself and your family from intruders who could mean you bodily harm?
And another thing; if squatters decide to move onto your property and squat to their heart's desire. Now I'm not talking about abandoned property, I'm talking about prime real estate that tax paying citizens are living in or renovating. The police have no legal recourse if there are no signs of forced entry. It is a civil matter under English law. Meaning homeowners have to take the squatters to court and pay legal fees (the squatters get free legal aid!). Afterwords, the police rarely arrest the squatters and they just run off looking for the next house. While the homeowners are waiting to go to court the squatters often cause thousands of pounds of damage. The police do nothing and the squatters get to go ruin someone else's life.
Finally, this country love the rights of criminals so much that they do not publish the names or faces of escaped convicts. You read that right, and escaped murderer could be on the run and you would have no idea of their name or what they look like. So hooray rights of privacy for criminals!
England, you might want to take a lesson from America on this one. Criminals should forego the rights to privacy and protection from bodily harm when they break the freaking law!
My favorite are "Squatter's Rights". My dorm was next to an abandoned pub and there were people living inside the pub partying all night, every every. No one could kick them out or arrest them because they had Squatter's Rights. It's all beyond me.
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