Well, I suppose it happens occasionally.
Coulson’s sentence tells us more about the vindictive nature of our justice system – and of public opinion – than it does about his crimes. In a century, we will look back on today’s penal practices with scarcely less surprise than the way we currently see, say, the 1723 Black Act, which introduced 50 new hanging offences, including one for “hiding in a forest while disguised”.
And that about sums it up. We are moving to a desire for revenge rather than dispassionate justice. We see it in this discussion about the Rolf Harris conviction.
As I said there, people can and do reform. The person in his forties is not necessarily the person who committed an offence in his teens. As the years go by the likelihood of recidivism diminishes and they should not have to constantly apologise for what happened decades earlier. There comes a point when we should – in a civilised society – decide that enough is enough and that they are no more likely to offend than anyone else. Contrary to the opinions put forward by others, this is not anti-liberty, rather it is very much pro-liberty. The right to put one’s past behind and move on without constantly being judged by the vindictive, the malicious and the vengeful – for that is what happens. And, no, they do not have the right to know.
I made a serious error of judgement in my early twenties. Not a criminal offence, but I guess things could have turned out differently. I was held responsible in my absence for the misplacement of around £1million of customers’ money. It hadn’t actually gone missing – it was in the company’s bank account, but the person responsible had discarded the relevant paperwork. I was on holiday at the time, but that didn’t stop them blaming me because the person responsible was doing my job and I should have been more thorough in briefing her. Which I might have, had I been there longer and been more familiar with all of the systems myself. It took a month to try and allocate money for the end of month balance and even then there were errors. I was working till late at night trying to untangle the mess only to suffer scorn for having allowed it to happen.
Eventually, I walked out. That job has never been on my CV. As I was only there for a couple of months, expunging it was a relatively simple matter. Is it relevant? Should potential employers have the right to know? So, yeah, I got it wrong because I missed a vital part of the briefing when handing over. No they damned well do not have the right to know and I don’t tell them. If it had been held against me, it would have potentially destroyed my career – a career that has, since that point, been exemplary (besides, I haven’t got involved in credit control since anyway). The past is not a reliable indicator of the future and in my case, I was never going to fall into that trap again and never did. So, it’s time we put away the desire for vengeance and allowed people to move on with their lives without everyone knowing about their juvenile errors of judgement.
Likewise with Coulson. A non-custodial sentence would have sufficed. Prison should be for the violent offenders who are a risk to the outside world. Coulson is no risk to anyone, frankly. So I find myself agreeing with Huhne. Which is odd, but I guess I’ll get over it.