A Bit Of Fuss About Not A Lot

The press has been full of reports based on the proposed Sentencing Guidelines on theft and related matters. I have had a quick look through them, and there are no radical departures from what happens now, as far as I can see. The journos have been running the usual headlines about "Shoplifters/whoever may escape jail" as if most of them do not already. In the media village there is an assumption that any crime not met with a prison sentence is a let-off, even though a minority of those passing through the lower courts (who handle a good 95% of cases right down to sentence) have ever gone to prison.
The whole thing looks like a non-story to me.