Sara Connor got four years for killing a cop, while Schapelle Corby got 20 years for smuggling marijuana. Why?

Tim Lindsey, the director of Melbourne Law School’s Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society, said there were a number of factors.

But he confessed that even he was surprised by the leniency of the sentences handed to the Byron Bay couple.

“I think in this case, I was surprised that both offenders only received six and four years respectively,” he said. “Prosecutors wanted eight, which I would have thought they would be given, since the maximum sentence if 12 years. It’s a serious manslaughter in pretty repulsive circumstances. Can you imagine if a policeman on Bondi Beach was killed in a drunken rage by an international tourist? I think here, Indonesia has acted in a restrained fashion.”

The news item “Sara Connor got four years for killing a cop, while Schapelle Corby got 20 years for smuggling marijuana. Why?” was published on news.com.au on 14 March 2017.

To read the full article by Kim Stephens, click here
http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/sara-connor-got-four-years-for-killing-a-cop-while-schapelle-corby-got-20-years-for-smuggling-marijuana-why/news-story/12504e875f0fb12e1cb6c72f2e8a10cd

Tim Lindsey is Malcolm Smith Professor of Asian Law, Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society at the Melbourne Law School. Tim’s publications include Indonesia: Law and Society; Islam, Law and the State in Southeast Asia (three volumes); The Indonesian Constitution; and Religion, Law and Intolerance in Indonesia. He is a founder and an Executive Editor of The Australian Journal of Asian Law.