Bizarre, Criminal law, Uncategorized

English Woman Gets 30 Months In Jail After 153rd Arrest

1489424665574We have often discussed the difficult challenge in dealing recidivists for DUI and other non-violent offenses.  Margaret Johnson, however, is virtually in a category onto herself.  The 40-year-old  English woman has been arrested 153 times and is called  the “Pickpocket Queen of Birmingham.”

Johnson was sentenced to 30 months in jail after admitting to six additional thefts. She is known to target elderly women.  In one case, she stole from  an elderly woman looking after her grandson who has Down Syndrome

The question is whether you simply sentence such recidivists to lengthy jail sentences after so many convictions despite the individual crimes remaining relatively small offenses.

What do you think?

30 thoughts on “English Woman Gets 30 Months In Jail After 153rd Arrest”

  2. The question is whether you simply sentence such recidivists to lengthy jail sentences after so many convictions despite the individual crimes remaining relatively small offenses. What do you think?

    Let’s posit that mean time served for a first offense for petit larceny in a hypothetical penal regime is 8.3 days in jail. Let’s posit as well that for offenses of a given severity, the penalty escalates with each subsequent conviction per the following formula: ((n/(n+2))/(1/3)) x p, where ‘n’ is the number of offenses thus far and ‘p’ is the standard penalty (when pleas and early release are taken into account). Her most recent offenses would have netted her 24 days on average and the sum of time served for all 153 offenses would now be approaching 10 years.

    It’s a reasonable wager her ‘punishments’ thus far have been to remanded to the supervision of components of the social work industry.

  4. she should be introduced to some nice muslim men over there- hopefully ali can impose some discipline on this cow- no disrespect to my bovine friends

  6. Put her in one of London’s No-Go Zones with an ankle bracelet and tell her she is free to live there or in prison.

  9. I made a printed copy of that ugly photo. I stuck it under the sink where the cock roaches hang out. They are fleeing.

  10. In the same week the British press reported that police are no longer going to deal with shoplifters providing they steal less than £100. When the authorities take this atttitude what are people supposed to do to protect themselves?

    1. Put cigarillos on the shelves laced with poison. Then when Michael Brown steals them and smokes them he will croak.

  11. In days of old before condoms were invented they tied a sock around the…. No. What was relevant in days of old were the penal colonies. England could have sent this ugly bitch over to Georgia here on this continent and have her do some work. And, she would be away from the rest of “the Barmies”. When I was in England the other folks outside of Birmingham referred to those folks as “Barmies”.
    There is nothing wrong with locking this ugly thing up in jail. It will not cure her but it will segregate her from some victims. The other inmates do not want her. Corporal punishment is in order. Cut off her tongue. Cut off some fingers. Slice off one ear. Then say: Cheers Big Ears! That is a Barmie greeting.

  13. Do what they do in parts of the Muslim world–cut off her hands in response to her stealing. Problem solved. No more pickpocketing. Sometimes the savages actually get things right. Not sure how she will tend to those oozing sores without the benefit of hands, but, them’s the breaks.

      1. Tell us, all-wise and all-knowing King Solomon–what is your solution to sticky-fingers-Sally?

        Watch. This is gonna be a good one. We’re all about to get a dose of enlightenment. Take a seat.

  14. She is certainly a habitual offender. What needs to be considered is the welfare of the public at large in having to constantly be victimized from her crimes. On that aspect incarceration for a long time might not get it through her mind to change her behavior, but one thing that is certain is no more members of the public will be mugged. The state has a legitimate interest in protecting the public so the state is justified in putting her away.

    On another note many European cities have nearly epidemic levels of pickpockets. Some of the reasons include target rich environment with little chance of arrest coupled with slaps on the wrist for stealing wallets and purses. Penalties are low and of course there is little deterrent.

    In WA state pickpocketing is a class B felony (RCW 9A.56.030(b)) and if there are credit cards, aka access devices, in the wallet that is another felony (9A.56.040)

    If any force is used to take the wallet it can the be charged as at least Robbery in the Second Degree (9A.56.210)

    Rates of pickpocketing here, while it does happen, is very uncommon because a person can easily get prison time for such crimes. So if the woman in this article goes away for 30 months due to her 153rd arrest I believe she got off easy.

  15. I don’t want the UK interfering in our justice system so I won’t comment on theirs, I’ll just say I’m proud to be an American

  17. Some U.S. states have laws that a 3rd offense of something like this, even if it is “non-violent”, will get you 25 years in the slammer. They had a segment on 60 minutes about it one time. They were interviewing some guy who had gotten 25 years, and his 3rd offense was something not real serious (but definitely an inconvenience to his victims), and he was complaining about how long a sentence he had gotten for such a “minor” thing, and I was just hoping the interviewer would just ask him (which he never did) “Well, why don’t you just not commit these crimes, and then you won’t have these problems?”

    1. That suggests the legislative process is dominated by people who are too innumerate to compose a simple algebraic formula and enter that into the sentencing rules in the penal law. Innumerate people commonly go to law school.

  18. She should definitely not be free to prey on more victims. UK legal system is failing.

    I’d like to see isolated communities for specific types of criminals. Can habitual thieves who aren’t violent do something useful on their own in a walled off community?

  19. I’d arrest the grandmother for allowing a hopped-up crackhead, with festering sores on and around her mouth, to “look after” her grandchild. I know, I know, it’s England, but even for England, where princes chase people like Camilla for decades, this is one scary looking broad.

    2. “In one case, she stole from an elderly woman looking after her grandson who has Down Syndrome”

      Was it Margaret Johnson or the elderly woman who was looking after the grandson?

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