Burglars

[Theo]

I offered the last chap who entered my house a cup of tea and said he could have the video recorder if he left quietly. After he left, I phoned the police. He didn't take the cup of tea, but he did get caught by the fuzz - carrying a video recorder down a main road at 3am.

[SmileyUK]

I'd like to think i am capable of defending my house if the need arose. I am generally quite chilled out but prone to bouts of explosive temper.In fact i have only lost my temper once in recent memory when my x neighbours were throwing a party and taking massive liberties . My son was screaming his head off the neighbours didnt tell us they were going to be doing it and then when my wife asked them to turn it down he insulted her. This made me flip (many external factors at the time too) and i went round there and *sorted* the situation out, admittedly with a threat of violence but no actual physical harm. Which leads me to my next point...

At the end of the day how many burglars are going to stick around when someone is stood their in the pants screaming at them with a baseball bat...

the neighbours can call the police because they would hear the shouting (walls are like paper).

Most situations like this wouldnt go as far as violence as the people doing it are looking for easy opportunities... when the going gets tough they would rather run than hang around and risk a maybe.

[bouncin]

every1 who posted in this thread seems to be around 6 foot and athletic or big build lol

As that seems to be the average size. the burglars are ussualy gonna be around 6ft with an athletic build themselves

[SmileyUK]

lol im actually a little bigger than that, but my build is far from athletic... why settle for a six pack when you can have a whole barrel

[BEANFro Elite]

No, I take it up with YOU, since YOU'D be breaking the law. If you hurt a burglar in an unwarranted attack badly enough that you go to prison, that makes you just as much of a scumbag as them. They're burglars, you're a violent freak.

You're wrong there Rave because you're only a violent freak if you go around in public starting fights etc. but if you're excessively violent in your own home to burglars then thats fair enough.

Its the only fitting punishment considering the Police won't do anything...

So in short, the Government should change the law to allow us to do whatever the hell we wish to burglars. And yes I would be prepared to viciously attack a burglar if I caught him attempting steal the very things I and my family have our asses off to acquire and the irriplaceable stuff too.

[petrefax]

despite my usual cowardice (i will usually go to great lengths to avoid conflict, being a 6ft skinny 10st hippie) its very different when its your own home

At the end of the day how many burglars are going to stick around when someone is stood their in the pants screaming at them with a baseball bat...

i can confirm that at least 2 such would-be burglars certainly didn't wish to hang around

a particularly psychotic ex girlfriend had 2 of her scummiest friends turn up at my house late one saturday night, knock the door & try to force their way past when i answered

from what i gathered afterwards, she expected me to be on the razz that night so thought i'd be p***ed & she'd probably given them a full inventory of posesions - they got the stuff, i got a hiding (as a little bonus for her)

luckily i'd swapped a shift & hadn't long got in from work, sober.....i don't think my reaction was quite what they were expecting

whether or not i'd have used the bat is a moot point since they didn't hang around, but i suspect i'd have been only too happy to if they'd not run off since i was livid, the main thing in my mind at the time was "how dare you"

for a few hours afterward (probably due to adrenaline) i regretted the fact that i didn't batter at least one of them - fortunately they did run off, i calmed down & appreciated the potential consequences

[Allen]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. If ANYONE violates MY rights by breaking into MY home, I will deal with them ANY way I want to, regardles of the consequences. They deserve everything we can possibly give to them.

There's too many people 'protecting' the criminals these days. I always try to keep on the right side of the law, but when things like this are just simply immoral ("Ooh, you can't possibly hurt someone who breaks into your house as you'll go to prison", where the f**k is the sense in that??), I would not have a problem dealing with the issue my way.

[Rave]

There's too many people 'protecting' the criminals these days.

Yeah? Who? Linkage would be good, if you don't mind.

I always try to keep on the right side of the law, but when things like this are just simply immoral ("Ooh, you can't possibly hurt someone who breaks into your house as you'll go to prison", where the f**k is the sense in that??)

The sense in that is that it costs money to put people in prison, yet it seems the main objection to burglars is that they're just taking from society, rather than giving back. Well duh genius, if you go to prison for beating a burglar, it's MY tax money that pays for you to sit on your ar$e for 6 months, and so YOU would be the wastrel living off other people's work rather than contributing something yourself.

I say it again: if all of you are such big men that you could totally pwn any burglar who had the temerity to enter your house, just knock them to the ground and sit on them until the police arrive. Less risky for you, no blood on your carpets, and the burglar gets to put something back into society by doing some community service. I don't see what the problem is.

Rich :¬)

[megah0]

Some perspective.

As a doorman I was confronted by a man wielding a knife, we put him down breaking his left forearm in the process and he got a few bumps and bruises as we restrained him.

Police said they would normally press charges but would not in this case as it was a bank holiday weekend. If I could face prosecution for defending myself from a man intent on stabbing me or worse then the situation is shambolic quite frankly.

[Allen]

Yeah? Who? Linkage would be good, if you don't mind.

You said it yourself mate.

Attack and seriously hurt a burglar who is no direct threat to you and you WILL go to prison.

They should have NO protection OR rights if they break the law by entering your property. What right do they have to put you or your family in danger/risk like that, or in the case of the elderly or disabled, scare the living **** out of you? That is the law protecting the scum who steal from us who work hard to get what we have.

The sense in that is that it costs money to put people in prison, yet it seems the main objection to burglars is that they're just taking from society, rather than giving back. Well duh genius, if you go to prison for beating a burglar, it's MY tax money that pays for you to sit on your ar$e for 6 months, and so YOU would be the wastrel living off other people's work rather than contributing something yourself.

I say it again: if all of you are such big men that you could totally pwn any burglar who had the temerity to enter your house, just knock them to the ground and sit on them until the police arrive. Less risky for you, no blood on your carpets, and the burglar gets to put something back into society by doing some community service. I don't see what the problem is.

Rich :¬)

I never said that I WOULD be able to 'pwn' any burglar as you put it, just that I would use every bit of strength in my body and would try my hardest to knock the living crap outta them, just as they deserve.

[Allen]

Police said they would normally press charges but would not in this case as it was a bank holiday weekend. If I could face prosecution for defending myself from a man intent on stabbing me or worse then the situation is shambolic quite frankly.

Police through and through. They wouldn't press charges coz it was a bank holiday weekend? What a bunch or arses. Can't even follow procedures themselves coz they're too lazy! And we're supposed to rely on them and the so-called 'justice' (read LMFAO!!) system?

mgh0, it's good for you though, it meens you were still on the streets to break more evil scums arms. And I hope you have!

[megah0]

I think they would not have pressed them anyway but were trying to impress us with how good and understanding they were.

It was all on CCTV anyway, had they been serious they would have taken us in for a statement

[Rave]

You said it yourself mate.

Where?????

They should have NO protection OR rights if they break the law by entering your property. What right do they have to put you or your family in danger/risk like that, or in the case of the elderly or disabled, scare the living **** out of you?

They don't have any right to do that. Put them under citizen's arrest, and the poice will thank you and take them away.

That is the law protecting the scum who steal from us who work hard to get what we have.

I say again: examples please. The law as I read it certainly doesn't say it's legal to burgle people?

I never said that I WOULD be able to 'pwn' any burglar as you put it, just that I would use every bit of strength in my body and would try my hardest to knock the living crap outta them, just as they deserve.

Well, you'll either fail, in which case you'll have a stay in hospital (or worst case scenario, the morgue), or you'll succeed, in which case there's a good chance you'll have a stay in prison. Either way you'll lose.

Rich :¬)

[Stewart]

Allens point is that once they step outside the law, in this case to enter your home with the intent to steal, they should have no protection from the law, so you shouldn't be able to get done for GBH if you attack a burglar in your home.

As I said earlier in the thread - Step outside the law, and you step outside the protection of the law. At present someone robbing your house has rights, which some (most?) think should not be the case.

[Zathras]

It's interesting seeing how everyone starts to talk about being able to defend themselves against possible attack, then suddenly we're into the realms of retribution with people stating how they'd 'teach them a lesson' and how they'd 'deserve it'. I'm all for using necessary force to protect oneself, but one of the cornerstones of living in a society such as ours rather than in some godawful lawless or fundamentalist state is our method of justice and rejection of vigilante action. Sure, we'll get the usual mindless kneejerk reactionary Sun-readers saying "pah, police eh? they don't do their job" but if it were up to people to decide and act out what they consider their own retribution we'd be up excrement creek pretty quickly. The reasons don't really need outlining. If people think shooting someone or stabbing them/baseball batting them in cold blood is acceptable for burglary, what do we do with real serious criminals like aggravated robbers, muggers, rapists? There was a case in the states where a guy shot dead someone he found trying to escape his home, thinking he was a burglar. Real truth was he was having an affair with the guy's wife and was trying to get out of the house unnoticed. I'm sure 95% of us have done something in the heat of the moment we later regret, well stating it's all right to beat up or kill burglars in retribution rather than self-defence is going to result in some people making some big mistakes.

Most of this 'I'd beat the living **** outa them' is macho talk and that 95% of those saying so wouldn't do it. Anyway, how's proposing people can use any force they feel like going to help people like my grandmother who's almost bound to a wheelchair? She's not going to be able to knock a burglar out. It'll just make her an easier target, either that or the burglars will seriously tool up and go straight to disable any person in the house first. Sure, we might see a few less burglaries, but we'll see a lot more violent crimes and GBH or even murders when we do have burglaries, and the burglars themselves won't be the only ones getting beaten up. Let's get some sense of proportionality here - some people are advocating 'forfeiting all rights' when an act of burglary or trespass is committed. Great, so if someone catches a kid stealing their milk they can torture them? "Ah, no, that's not what I mean", they'll say... Well, where do you draw the line? The idea that all criminals are equal scum is over-simplistic as well. A recent poll showed that almost everyone on here has used pirated software or watched copied films/music at some point. Oh, that's victimless, you'll state. Tell that to a friend of mine who defaulted on his mortgage after the email client he based his company around was cracked and placed on the net, meaning his business collapsed mainly due to piracy. How serious are crimes? What defines a sufficiently serious crime to justify a beating, and what crimes justify what beatings? Suddenly retribution is a bit more complicated isn't it, and not the sort of decision you want to make while completely emotional like you're bound to be when someone's just committed a crime against you. Defend your person and your family, sure. Enact retribution yourself, you're not much better than the person who's committed crime against you.

[Zathras]

As I said earlier in the thread - Step outside the law, and you step outside the protection of the law.

I can just see Bill Gates, Eminem or some other music star or software producer coming round to Vaul's house and enacting the gimp routine from Pulp Fiction. After all Vaul, you're telling me you've never done anything illegal such as download an MP3, burn a copied CD or install some software you don't have the license for? I'm not seriously suggesting this, or saying you're suggesting it, but after all, you'll have "stepped outside the law" won't you, and by your very own definitions... Ah, now you'll start to try to define what crimes are suitably bad for this "outside the protection of the law" to apply. Not quite what you said tho is it? Proportionality is what's needed. Now what you consider appropriate and I consider appropriate may be different things, but my point is it is very very difficult to have completely black and white statements like the one you propose.