These Are Not "Ordinary" Criminals

Punishment for Convicted Terrorists in the UK

Boris Johnson has said that he will deal with the soft sentencing laws in the UK.  The specific occasion which has promoted the issue of criminal sentencing has been the unlawful killing of innocent people by a convicted felon who was released early.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says 74 convicted terrorists released early from prison in the United Kingdom will have their license conditions reviewed.  The UK Ministry of Justice confirmed the figure, launching a review after convicted terrorist Usman Khan killed two people in a knife attack at the London Bridge on Friday, following an early release from prison, according to the BBC. The 28-year-old died in the attack. He had previously been jailed after attempting to bomb the London Stock Exchange in 2012.

Johnson says that eliminating early release would have prevented the deadly stabbing.  "I opposed [automatic release] both in 2003 and 2008, and now that I am prime minister I'm going to take steps to make sure that people are not released early when they commit... serious sexual, violent or terrorist offenses," he told the BBC. "I absolutely deplore that fact that this man was out on the streets... and we are going to take action against it." [Breitbart News]

Britain, of course, has experience in these matters.  For decades it had to confront war waged agaisnt it by Irish extremists.
  The crimes and punishment regimes necessarily put the war waged by the Provos against the UK into a special category.  We suspect that the hundreds of terrorists being held in UK prisons need to be placed in a similar special category.  Terrorism is effectively war is being waged "by other means" as the saying goes.

Putting these guerrilla fighters into the same category as run of the mill violent offenders will not do.  They must be categorized differently and held permanently until they are able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they have truly cast off their political ideology.  In other words, they must be held under preventive detention, until they can demonstrate a genuine rejection of being at war with the UK.

By all the runes Boris Johnson will be elected as UK Prime Minister in a few weeks time.  This is one area in which he needs to move decisively.  His recent reaction to the deaths caused by "convicted terrorist Usman Khan" does not go nearly far enough.  All such terrorists need to be convicted for life without parole, until they can credibly demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt that they have come to abhor terrorism in all its manifestations.

[Postscript: The time is approaching in New Zealand when we will face exactly the same issues.  An alleged murderer will face charges of  killing and wounding numerous innocents in the name of a political ideology.  If convicted, it will be interesting to see the punishment regime the accused will face.  Here is a clear case of what the UK is also facing--although further down the track than NZ.  Once again, "murder" will be inadequate.]