Public opinion on riots sentencing

The post-riots polling continues to roll on - on yesterday's Sun poll there were some questions on the sentencing of those involved in the riots (full tabs here and here).

Overall, only 12% of people think the sentences handed down so far have been too harsh. 49% think they are about right and 32% think they have been too soft.

YouGov asked about two specific cases that have received some comment - firstly the two men in Cheshire, who received 4 year prison sentences for creating pages on Facebook that encouraged people to riot in Warrington and Northwich (neither of which saw any riots in the end). In this case 25% thought the four year sentences were too harsh, 57% about right and 12% too soft.

The second case YouGov specifically asked about was a man sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution after breaking into a supermarket during the riots, and caught by the police before (they believed) he could steal some cigarettes. In this case 19% thought the two year sentence was too harsh, 61% about right, 14% too soft.

More generally, 70% of people think that the sentences being handed down in relation to the riots have been harsher than they would normally be (compared to 13% who think they are the same and 5% less harsh), however, the majority of people seem to think this is how it should be - 59% think the courts should be giving out harsher sentences for offences during the riots than they would have before, compared to 33% who think sentences should be the same.