Our Criminal System & Public Interest

The New Straits Times reported:

He entered a mobile phone outlet pretending to stand in cool air-conditioned comfort to drink from a mineral water bottle he had. Then he grabbed a Nokia 6510 phone while it was being charged and ran out of the shop.

Shop owner Cheah Leng Hai, 44, gave chase and caught Mohamed Lukman Mohamed Yusuff, 28, from Shah Alam.

The magistrate’s court yesterday sentenced the unemployed Lukman to seven months’ jail for stealing a used mobile phone worth RM150.

Lukman pleaded guilty to theft in a mobile phone outlet in Komtar at 1pm on Jan 11.

Meanwhile, at the same court, an unemployed Indonesian woman was fined RM100 for fighting with a 72-year-old man at a police station.

Misnayanti, 27, and P.Murugaya were jointly charged with fighting in a public place at the Komtar police station at 5.10pm on Thursday.

Misnayanti pleaded guilty while P. Muragaya claimed trial.

Sometimes I believe we are too harsh with our laws. While public interest requires us to punish criminals to deter crimes, such as thieves or shoplifters, I think a sentence of 7 months is way over the top for the case of running off with a mobile phone. Was it a first offence? Will he be a better repentant person after the 7 months (even allowing for the reduction for good behaviour)?

By contrast, a more serious public interest in people resorting to violence was only dealt with by a RM100 fine.

I am not advocating a soft wimpish liberal treatment of criminals, but how would public interest be best served by what our justice system hands out must always be evaluated and questioned?