Kathleen Jennings, the cub scout leader who was taken to court for leaving her feet on a train seat, can be thankful that David Jones was not one of the judges.
The 19-year-old flip-flop martyr, as the Daily Telegraph calls her, received a court summons despite apologising to a Merseyrail official for having put her feet on a train seat.
Although a court found her guilty of violating a bylaw, it said Merseyrail should have chosen a less draconian punishment such as a fine. Mr Jones, who describes himself as a liberal by inclination, takes umbrage with the court, which also gave absolute discharges to seven others who committed the same offence.
Writing in the Mail, he says Ms Jennings should have been punished and that the court has sent out a wrong message. He favours a zero tolerance approach to minor misdemeanours. Having witnessed how zero tolerance worked in New York, he argues that such an attitude only works if you treat all minor infringements with due seriousness and do not just pick on easy targets while ignoring more hardened thugs.
This is an edited extract of the Wrap, our daily digest of the papers.
