The legal system doesn't take into account what happens to victims 
.
Nor should it. We don't live in an eye-for-an-eye society.
Sometimes life is stuffed but theres no point ruining two lives.
While I agree Jake that we don't live in an eye-for-an-eye society and agree with that in the main, there are times when people need to face-up to the consequences of their actions. Matthew Newton won his appeal by his lawyer successfully arguing that a criminal conviction against his name would affect his future career prospects. Well he should have thought of that before he goes hitting into a girlfriend
. There are also the situations where the defendant's past (say bad childhood) is used as a defence yet there's no mention of the trauma and life-long effects that the victim will have to endure when judging sentences. You do ruin two lives when a soft sentence results in a re-offence.
