Two very different ways to react to rioting: Comparing the English legal system to Vancouver’s slower response
Riots were a huge talking point last summer. Although we saw inspirational images of people rising up against tyranny in Africa and the Middle East, we also saw – in Vancouver and England – people perpetrating mindless acts of vandalism and violence for no discernible reason. In the aftermath of those horrible riots, I think it’s interesting to compare Vancouver’s response with England’s.
CONSIDER this: The first rioters from Vancouver’s Stanley Cup disorder are only beginning to hear what they will face as punishment. Ryan Dickinson, from Surrey, B.C., was the first to be sentenced – eight months after the riots.
He was given a 16-month jail sentence for his part in the riots, which saw him, among other things, throwing a newspaper box at a car.
But some people are speculating that many of the other convicted rioters will get off lightly.