I would agree with your post in general but The Commissioner of the Met police has not been accused of any wrong himself, he resigned for being unaware of alleged wrongdoing of others under his command.

I agree with what you say also, no one should be allowed to get away with a criminal act and giving it back does not make it right. It used to be that MP's who made mistakes or were caught doing something wrong resigned but the last government allowed people to say they were sorry (probably sorry for getting caught rather than committing the deed) and stay in their jobs now it seems that a lot of people have the idea they can do what they want regardless of the law or fail to do their jobs properly and all they have to do is say they are sorry and that makes it ok. It does not make it ok.
Also the justice system has gone wrong somewhere as murder can get you a lessor sentence than fraud. Life should mean life. If this 16 year old is found guilty of murdering that 68 year old man during the riots then he should never be let out but as things are people will say he is too young to understand what he was doing and he will probably serve less than 10 years.

the courts are soft on crime with lenient sentences and bailing repeat offenders who just offend again (then the public blame the police - dreads comment.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...their-benefits

Sorry can't find the headlines I saw on one of the "Daily Papers" in the Service station this morning. What the headline said was that the Judge had saved this rioting scumbag from being deported by not sending him to prison - as Dread says the courts are too soft. It is the courts that should be on trial with these stupid sentences.

My previous comments in noway try to exonerate the rioters / looters / scumbags. All I was trying to say is that how can our politicians and police try to lecture the public on morality and the law, when many of them have committed crimes themselves.

BiPat
If I remember the Commissioner of the Met resigned when it transpired that he had had a £12,000 visit to a health farm paid for by News International. To my mind that is a crime.
Noni
If that's the same story I read in the Telegraph, then that had nothing to do with the riots. It was a Jamaican ex Drug dealer by the name of Vincent Miller who had been deported twice already and then came in again under an assumed identity. He was charged with possession of such ID, conspiring to obtain property by deception and dishonestly making a false representation. He was married and had three children born in the UK
The judge did state that Miller might well be deported anyway, but (the judge) did not wish to tie the hands of the immigration authorities

There is a clear class prejudice in how crimes are viewed. Neither the rioters nor, for example, the white collar crimes that led to the global economic crisis should be tollerated or excuses given. I am also sure that deaths will have occured from the mis-selling of mortgages, as economic hardship leads to suicide, lack of medical care and other secondary incidents; but few ask for this white collar greed to be punished with a bullet from the army, deportation or flogging.

From rioting in the UK to the above is something of a quantum leap Kimilseung; although I agree with some of what you say: ''There is a clear class prejudice in how crimes are viewed.'' Of course that is true, remember "life is like a shit sandwich the more bread you've got the less shit you eat''
You speak about ''white collar crimes that led to the global economic crisis'' my understanding is that its not a global crime but the exclusive responsibility of American bankers: Roughly 80% of American sub prime mortgages were vari rate - the US housing market that had peaked in 2006collapsed, with the decline in asset value brought about by this collapse the equity in properties went down so no opportunity to re-mortgage at a better rate, the incentivised deals had come to an end and in consequence the interest rates went up and then the effluent really hit the air con and the default rate went through the roof! How this affected the rest of the world is the Americans ever keen to ''share'', fraudulently packaged together billion upon billion of dollars worth of these failing mortgages gave them an AAA rating and sold them to banks throughout the world. Hence the creation of the world banking crisis!
But was it fraud? the officers of any bank or indeed any company are duty bound to do the best for there employers; if it meant the failure of other banks or institutions to save the company they worked for, then so be it. No different from a car dealer selling a faulty car at auction, let someone else have the aggrevation of it and the same rules apply 'let the buyer beware'. Moraly appalling but just business!
As for your final comment 'white collar greed to be punished with a bullet from the army, deportation or flogging' - well I don't think anybody has seriously asked for that level of punishment for the rioters either, though its not a bad idea, not a bad idea at all!

Yes it is a bit of a jump, pardon my rhetoric.

I'll have to remember that one.

Part of the problem was the mis-selling of mortgages against regulations, this did include fraud, documentation was not completed correctly, information provided from applicants was ignored so that the application process would accept applicants for mortgages which they did not qualify, it went beyond buyer beware; courts have been involved in getting mortgages relief and deals re-negotiated. Some of what went on was unethical, but also illegal.

They have been over in the barbie.

It is a good point. In the UK, people can hack into private phone accounts, fiddle their expenses (ie steal from the public), bribe police, purchase favours from politicians and press, and still spend the weekend with the Prime Minister and keep their jobs (or get new ones) because they "deserve a second chance".

Put those same people in hoodies, out on the streets, and they become "scum".

A case of 'lead from the front'. What an example.

And we're fooling ourselves if we think that the people at the "bottom" can't see what the people at the "top" are doing.

Who exactly is the "underclass", hmm?

Crimes involving money, property etc have always been treaed much more harshly then those against people.

Not really, people found guilty of murder used to be hung. I don't think people got hung, at least in the 20th century, for fraud.

To say that deaths have been caused by mis-selling mortgages as economic hardship leads to suicide is taking away peoples responsibility for themselves. Ok mortgage companies gave people mortgages so big that they could not manage the repayments but the people taking these mortgages had a responsibility to manage their own finances sensibly. If someone lost their job and could not meet the payments that is different but then you could blame the employer for letting them go I suppose. The problem is that no one wants to take responsibility for their own actions.

I think they have some fairly archaic practises in some of the Muslim fundamentalist regimes, whereby you can be stoned to death (can't be a pleasant way to go) for what we would consider basic human rights! Hands amputated for stealing and an eye for an eye punishment system. Perhaps part of the reason for the recent riots in North Africa, the middle east?

Who is "they"