Who says that you can't reheat a soufflé?
News from The Times (subscription) that the BBC's militant revenue generation arm, TV Licensing, is unfairly targeting women is hardly new and hardly a surprise (see here and here for starters).
Ministry of Justice figures show that 93,319 of 129,446 prosecutions in 2018 were brought against women (72 percent), up from 71 percent in 2017 and 67 percent in 2012. TV licence evasion accounts for 30 percent of female convictions, compared to only 4 percent of male convictions.
So why is it that women disproportionately fall victim the scum at TV Licensing? A lot of it is down to the manner in which TV Licensing visits properties.
Despite recent leaps in sexual equality, it is an inescapable fact that the female of the species is far more likely to be at home during the daytime - when most TV Licensing visits occur - either looking after the children or acting as homemaker.
TV Licensing can only prosecute a normal adult occupier of an unlicensed property they are visiting. For the reasons briefly mentioned that person is more likely to be a woman. It is also reasonable to say that a woman is far more likely to engage with a TV Licensing goon on the doorstep than a man is, which is why a goon is more likely to obtain sufficient evidence for a prosecution from a woman. Remember that every TV Licensing prosecution hinges on the completion of a "Code 8" prosecution interview under caution.
Caroline Lévesque-Bartlett, a legal editor and prominent anti-TV licence campaigner, described TV licence evasion as "an all round ludicrous crime".
"There is no question that women are more often on the receiving end, but the problem is bigger than that. Why should anyone - students, people on benefits, over-75s now too - be forced to fund the BBC if all they want is to, say, watch ITV? It makes no sense. Why should anyone fear a criminal record for such a petty thing? There are far more sensible ways to fund the BBC."
A spokesperson from TV Licensing said it "takes all reasonable steps to avoid prosecution, including not prosecuting first-time offenders if they buy a licence before the case gets to court.
"Individuals cannot be imprisoned for licence fee evasion, only for non-payment of court-ordered fines. The decision to imprison an individual is made by a magistrate as a last resort and only after wilful or culpable refusal to pay.
"The number of women imprisoned in England and Wales in 2018 was four, a 50 percent reduction from the previous year’s eight women. Prosecutions in England and Wales have fallen by 6 percent from 138,000 to 129,000 over the same period. The government's own independent review of TV licence fee enforcement, by David Perry QC, said that the TV Licensing system is broadly fair and proportionate."
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2 comments:
Someone on UC has to pay more than two weeks benefit to watch the BBC, I say BBC because I do not think that a channel that gets its revenue from adverts should be part of the licence fee, it's a scam that the BBC make someone pay for a licence to watch ITV, CH4, CH5, sky and other freeview channels that show adverts, they get their money showing the adverts.
The BBC is not advert free as some like to think, they broadcast adverts for the radio times and programs on other BBC channels.
The BBC have known about the targeting of women for years - they simply don't care as long as the money keeps rolling in. The BBC uses the court system as part of its revenue-raising arm - it carries out vast numbers of private prosecutions using its contractor in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It's time the TV licensing racket came to an end.
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