⚖️🔥Four-and-a-half years in custody. Four more under supervision. That’s the sentence handed down by Lord Woolman at the High Court of Justiciary—Scotland’s highest criminal court—for sexual offences against children, including rape of a child under 13.
Legally sound? Within discretion? Yes.
Emotionally satisfying? That’s where the temperature rises. 🔥
Under Scottish sentencing principles, the starting point was six years. Early guilty pleas shaved that down. Judicial “totality” prevented stacking punishments like Jenga blocks. Risk management? That’s handled separately—hence the four years of post-release supervision after time in HMP Addiewell.
The law ticked its boxes.
But the public doesn’t measure justice in procedural footnotes.
⚖️ When “Within the Guidelines” Feels Worlds Away from Justice
Let’s lay out the aggravating features:
- Multiple victims aged 12–14
- Offending while on bail
- Abuse of vulnerable children
- Significant psychological harm
- A pregnancy resulting from the abuse
In moral terms, this reads like a catalogue of devastation. In legal terms, it becomes a structured calculation.
That’s the tension.
Scottish sentencing has grown tougher over the last decade. Comparable cases today often attract longer terms. Yet here we are debating whether four-and-a-half years feels proportionate for crimes that fracture childhoods permanently.
Because this isn’t just about numbers. It’s about what prison is for:
- Retribution? Then some will argue the sentence feels light.
- Deterrence? Critics will ask whether it sends a strong enough signal.
- Rehabilitation? Others may say structured supervision matters more than sheer length.
- Public protection? The post-release supervision suggests ongoing concern.
The judge followed the framework. But frameworks don’t soothe outrage. They don’t quiet the instinctive recoil people feel when harm to children meets what appears—at first glance—to be a finite, almost tidy number.
Four-and-a-half years sounds short when measured against lifelong trauma.
And that’s where the debate ignites. 💥
🔥 Challenges 🔥
Is justice about rules—or about moral weight?
Does reducing a sentence for an early plea honour efficiency, or dilute accountability?
And what does “long enough” even mean when the damage lasts decades?
Don’t just scroll past. Don’t just rage on social media. Take a position. Argue it. Defend it. Or dismantle it. 💬
👇 Comment on the blog. Like it. Share it. Stir the debate where it belongs.
The sharpest, most compelling responses will be featured in the next issue of the magazine. 📝🔥
Chameleon Magazine 
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