(CP) A distinguished bishop within the Church of England contends that “keyboard warriors” should not be jailed for commenting on social media in regards to the spate of riots that broke out within the UK after the murder of three young girls in a mass stabbing.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Rev Rachel Treweek, said she believes the individuals jailed for allegedly inciting the riots by commenting online should not be punished with prison time.
Treweek, who speaks for the Church of England on prison issues, said that while she believes there should be “consequences for all of our actions,” the prison sentences for alleged online incitement were “not right.”
“I understand people immediately want that person to be punished, but should you want that person to be modified and never incite that hatred and never cause broken relationship in our communities, we’ve got to be asking what kind of intervention will actually enable us to assist that person be modified, to look upstream at among the underlying issues,” she said, as quoted by The Telegraph.
“Sending someone to prison for various months or years, and expecting that that person will come out and suddenly come back and contribute to a stronger community, if there’s been no appropriate intervention, is just silly.”
The bishop was also “hugely concerned” with the concept streets could be safer if more people were imprisoned, saying that there was “no evidence to indicate that locking more people up for longer makes our streets safer.”
“Indeed, our rates of reoffending are extremely high,” she said. “And if we would like to create communities that are good for the victims of crime, for many who’ve offended, for families in the broader community, we do must be asking that long-term query about, what do we expect we’re doing and what’s prison for?”
Instead, she said, many offenders, including those that incited hate online, should receive probation sentences and championed “more appropriate community sentencing.”
One of the people recently sentenced for allegedly inciting online hate was a 53-year-old woman named Julie Sweeney, who responded to a post on Facebook in regards to the clean-up from the riots by saying: “It’s absolutely ridiculous. Don’t protect the mosques. Blow the mosques up with the adults in it.”
“So-called keyboard warriors like you have to learn to take responsibility on your disgusting and inflammatory language,” Judge Steven Everett said when sentencing her to fifteen months, The Telegraph reported.
“In circumstances comparable to these, even people like it’s essential go to prison because a message must exit that should you do these terrible acts the court will say to you, ‘you have to go to prison.'”
The suspect within the Southport attack was named by police as Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, a second-generation Rwandan immigrant.
The mass stabbing sparked violent protests across the UK after false reports claimed Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker. Approximately 600 people were arrested, with over 150 reportedly charged since July 30. Some have been accused of targeting mosques and immigration centres. Muslim men armed with knives and machetes were also out within the streets and attacking protesters.
In response to public comments on social media, London’s Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley threatened to have US residents extradited for making incendiary posts.
Earlier this month, a gaggle of spiritual leaders, including Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, signed a joint statement sent to The Times of London denouncing the violence and commending those working to repair the damage.
Other signatories include Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, Chief Imam and Director General of the Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society Sayed Razawi, and Imam Qari Asim, chairman of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board.
“Over the previous few days we’ve got watched in horror as a small minority has brought hatred, violence and vandalism to towns and cities across the country,” read the statement, partially.
“We have seen anti-Muslim hatred and the targeting of mosques; asylum seekers and refugees attacked; violence directed towards the police and personal property, all of that are a stain on our national moral conscience.”
© The Christian Post
