Using Facebook to Incite Riots now Punishable by Law in the UK

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Two young adult males–Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22–both just received four-year sentences for using Facebook to incite a riot in their Cheshire hometown that never happened.  Despite the announcement over Facebook concerning the riots that were purportedly going to occur, no one showed up to these locations apart from the police. The riot never actually happened.  Yet the “offenders” are being severely punished.

The fact that these two young men’s four-year “exemplary sentences” are the longest passed so far in relation to the riots has sparked fierce controversy in a nation that is seeking to understand the intricate connections between crime, prison sentences and criminal deterrence.  How can these men be handed down a four-year sentence when to qualify for such a sentence under normal circumstances a convict would have to kidnap somebody or carry out a sexual assault?  How are these crimes equally punishable by law?  Food for thought…

(via reddit)

Claire Rush studies Geography and French at UC Berkeley. She lives in one of the largest co-ops in North America and has been an active member in the Berkeley Student Cooperative for the last two years. Apart from yoga and biking and the occasional hike, her main activities include chilling, hanging around, trying to teach herself how to cook, daydreaming about Burning Man, and watching seasons of old TV shows on the internet. More from this author →