Right punishment?
- Thread starter Miss Chicken
- Start date
Yet another case that illustrates the total abandonment of common sense.
Forget the punishment -- I can't believe it's actually illegal in the U.K. to sell a gerbil or a goldfish to a minor. A freakin' GOLDFISH, for Christ's sake. A goldfish isn't a pet -- it's a decoration.
Forget the punishment -- I can't believe it's actually illegal in the U.K. to sell a gerbil or a goldfish to a minor. A freakin' GOLDFISH, for Christ's sake. A goldfish isn't a pet -- it's a decoration.
It's silly, but blame the government, not the magistrates.
The lady committed a single act offence under s4 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, pursuant to s11. That carries with it a starting point sentence tariff of a Band C fine assuming no harm resulted, but she also has two aggravating factors of being in a position of special responsibility, and having done it for commericial gain. There are no mitigating factors. That pushes her into the higher part of the range for this offence. The range is a Band B fine, up to a medium level community order. She would have got community service instead, but since she cannot do it, she got the alternative community order... which is the curfew with tag.
It's silly in practice, but the magistrates didn't really have much room for manoeuvre given the confluence of factors. Sentencing guidelines can box them in.
I'm thinking about possibly becoming a magistrate at some point, so have been researching a bit about the job. So far, it's the sentencing guideline structure that might be too annoying for me to be happy doing it.
And under this particular law, we're not even allowed to kick the damn ass anymore either...
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
She's 66 years old. She probably sleeps through her entire curfew anyway.
She's 66 years old. She probably sleeps through her entire curfew anyway.
The best use of the time.
Western society gets more and more dumberer every day.
MissChicken, what's your logic that supports the woman receiving a fine?
30 years ago, we youth (in the US at least) had no issues with buying fish or other pets at a petstore; although many store operators would, depending on the age of the minor, either complete the sale or else tell the minor to come back with a parent.Government needs to spend less (actually zero) time on these alleged crimes.
john titor
Captain
y'all are crazy over there in Britannia.
It was still their call to create a 'sting' situation.
Total loss of common sense. What if she had asked the kid how he was going to treat the silly fish and he told her he was going to use it to feed another animal. Would that be against the law as long as the kid was over 16?
Jan
In America you can sell goldfish as bait.
Remember goldfish swallowing contests back in the 1970's?
Don't they still have the "win a goldfish" games at carnivals? They pass out goldfish in plastic bags full of water to anyone who can toss a nickel in the target.
Yes, the pet stores shouldn't sell animals to minors, but really---shouldn't the STORE get fined and not the 66 year old lady who just sent a kid on an errand?
Yes, the pet stores shouldn't sell animals to minors, but really---shouldn't the STORE get fined and not the 66 year old lady who just sent a kid on an errand?
"kid on an errand"? Did you read the same article as us?
And that's about all the stupid critters are good for!
Goldfish swallowing was a college fad in the 1920s. Did it make a comeback 50 years later?
Western society gets more and more dumberer every day.
MissChicken, what's your logic that supports the woman receiving a fine?
Government needs to spend less (actually zero) time on these alleged crimes.
My logic is that she knew the regulation against selling pets to children under the age of 16 and she broke that regulation on purpose.
The law in itself isn't a bad law because I think that it would be wrong to sell a kitten, dog, parrot etc to a child without their parent's permission. Maybe there is very little harm in selling a goldfish to a child but I realise you cannot have separate law for every single species that a petshop might sell.
I do not think that the council should just ignore reports that regulations have been broken. Most businesses have a wealth of regulations concerning what the business can and cannot do and yes some of those regulations might seem silly to people but I think most of the time there is some logic behind the regulations.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20100401/tuk-council-defends-tough-stance-on-gold-dba1618.html
Looks like there is more to this story.
Yahoo says that their was also a bird in the shop that had a broken leg and had to be put down and its not the first time she been caught selling pets to kids.
Looks like there is more to this story.
Yahoo says that their was also a bird in the shop that had a broken leg and had to be put down and its not the first time she been caught selling pets to kids.