Thank you. Mr. Doob, I am familiar with your writings and opinions, and I have the utmost respect for your work. Once again, I can see that, as usual, it is based on bona fide research and irrefutable statistical evidence.
Now, you want to know what has happened to our system since 2006. There is something you need to understand. And this is not meant as a derogatory comment but a point of clarification. This government is not concerned with producing a more effective penal system. The only thing it is concerned with is the impact this will have at the voting booth, the effect it will have on voters. The Conservatives are convinced that if they introduce harsher sentences, that if they are “tough on crime”, as they say, they will get more votes.
You have seen in your research that that has been the prevailing attitude in the United States, making it the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world. But you have also seen in your research how members of the public are informed of decisions made in judicial proceedings. You have also seen their reactions when they are faced with making real decisions in cases that are either hypothetical or factual. Is the “tough on crime” approach really what the public always favours at first glance?