Tag: Crime & Punishment
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Ant under fire as he begs for forgiveness
Should we forgive Ant McPartlin? The presenter has pleaded guilty to drink driving. In an emotional statement, he apologised and promised to change his ways. But not everyone is sympathetic.
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Gang steals €4.5m of gems: the world cheers
Is it wrong to romanticise criminals? On Wednesday night an armed gang stole jewels worth millions from a Paris hotel. And yet many are cheering them on, impressed by their sheer chutzpah.
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Pressure grows for total ban on ivory sales
Should the sale of even extremely old ivory products be banned? The government’s plan to abolish internal sales of ivory products has caused a storm on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow.
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‘Butcher of Bosnia’ convicted of genocide
Does international criminal law work? The vicious Serbian commander Ratko Mladic has been given a life sentence by a war crimes tribunal. But not everyone is satisfied.
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Prisons are spiralling ‘out of control’
Do prisons actually work? Rather than deterring crime, prisons are used by inmates to make a fortune selling drugs. And some argue that US prisons create more crime than they prevent.
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Ex-FBI agent hunts for Anne Frank’s betrayer
Is it worth re-opening old mysteries? Ever since Anne Frank’s diary was published, readers have speculated about who betrayed her family to the Nazis. Now, Vince Pankoke intends to find out.
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‘Who shall we kill this week, Mr President?’
Almost every major country orders its enemies to be assassinated without trial. Many of those killed are dangerous terrorists, but can these extrajudicial killings really be justified?
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English football ‘sinking into a dark pit’
The Football Association is investigating allegations of sexual abuse in football. Four police forces are involved and an NSPCC hotline has had more than 100 calls. Is the system tainted?
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Aberfan: 50 years since UK’s worst disaster
On this day in 1966, a coal tip collapsed onto a village school in Wales. It killed 144 people, including 116 children. It was also completely avoidable. So why was no one punished?
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No jail for ‘Heathrow 13’ who held up flights
Activists who oppose the expansion of Heathrow have been spared prison sentences after disrupting flights at the airport last year. But can such action be justified in a democratic society?
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Bonfire night ‘waste of money’, councils say
Councils across the country have reduced or cancelled this weekend’s celebrations in response to public spending cuts. Are firework shows any better than setting fire to money?
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91-year-old woman in Auschwitz trial
A former SS radio officer at Auschwitz is to go on trial in Germany for being an ‘accessory to murder’. What is the point of punishing someone so long after the crime was committed?
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‘Accountant of Auschwitz’ to face justice
Oskar Gröning, a 93-year-old former Auschwitz guard, is standing trial for war crimes. Were people like Gröning responsible for the Holocaust, or should the blame fall on those in authority?
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Notorious police killer released from prison
In 1966 Harry Roberts was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of two police officers in a case that shocked the UK. Yet this week he was released. Should life mean life?
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Renewed violence rocks Israel and Palestine
After a series of senseless murders committed by both sides, the Gaza strip is once again awash with violence. It is one of the most vexed conflicts in history – will it ever end?