HOME Office figures have shown that only one crime in 100 results in the perpetrator being caught and sentenced. This startling figure is thought to be due to 'the dramatic rise in the use of "summary justice" - instant fines or cautions and warnings handed out by the police…' Indeed, other findings published last week revealed that Penalty Notices for Disorder (PNDs - fines of £50 or £80 issued on-the-spot and payable within 21 days) are now being issued for one crime in nine (it is postulated some 167,000 have been issued in 2006, compared to 137,333 in 2005). An interesting commentary on the evolution of this 'pay-as-you-go hooliganism' can be read here.
The widespread and growing use of ASBOs, ABCs and PNDs as a quick and easy means to tackle the proliferating scourge of 'minor' criminality is being met with contempt by many of those recipients who, with their criminal credentials bolstered by their order or notice, continue to offend until they at last commit an offence of suitable severity that our judiciary is reluctantly compelled to incarcerate them for some paltry period in one of our revolving-door prisons. Upon their release the whole charade continues afresh. One of the principal and most damaging consequence of this unwillingness to properly punish our criminals is the message it transmits to other potential wrongdoers: it is a green light to go forth and be anti-social. This is not some baseless supposition from a detached commentator, but one based on personal observation.
Our adolescents are particularly vulnerable to this provocation (for that is what it is), primarily because of their amorality, but also because of their indoctrination by those sections of our frivolous and degrading popular 'culture' which present criminality, drug-abuse and sexual permissiveness as being desirable traits. This vulgar anti-culture, which on the one hand encourages absurdity and moral laxity (see Big brother, I'm a Celebrity…, countless soap operas, the debauchery of pop musicians et cetera) and on the other glorifies criminality (see countless gangster films – from Lock, Stock… to Boyz in the Hood – games like the Grand Theft Auto series and some Hip Hop) is having a deeply detrimental effect on the attitudes of the nations' youth. It may not be going too far to suggest that as much as punitive sentencing and prisons will indubitably make crime a less appealing prospect to our more timid potential wrongdoers, real headway will not be made until the poisonous immorality and idiotic triviality that characterise this 'culture' is addressed.
The question of why the government has come to rely on such weak and ineffective measures is complex, but may be briefly pared down to two dominant factors: firstly, with increasing anti-social behaviour on our streets and a chronic lack of prison spaces the government has been forced to bring in legislation which allows for the speedy processing of minor offenders whilst keeping them clear of prison: secondly, the government's attitude towards crime is based on the fallacious belief that criminals are themselves largely the 'victims' of poverty. But in this poverty=criminality equation, believed and promulgated by the majority of liberal leftists, wrongdoers have been handed the perfect ready-formed excuse for their unpleasant deeds, happily disavowing personal responsibility for their behaviour and placing blame instead upon their lowly socio-economic status, which they loudly proclaim they cannot alter (should have paid more attention at school, eh?). 'I wanna piece of the cake,' whined a spliff-smoking black gang-banger from London, interviewed for the Ross Kemp on Gangs series, when asked why locals displayed an alarming propensity for gunning each other down in the street. What nobody had the courage to tell the indignant young man and his cronies was that, of course, everybody wants a piece of the cake, but that you generally have to invest sincere effort to gain it; sitting indolently in your government-sponsored crack den waiting for a slice to come knocking will get you nowhere. Besides, recent research is pointing to the uncomfortable reality – uncomfortable for leftist liberals, at any rate – that many wrongdoers indulge in criminal activity, particularly street crime, because they take pleasure in it and because it earns them credibility in the much sought approbation of their thuggish peers and the fear, or 'respect', of their rivals.
Many will also agree that it is preposterous to suggest that anybody is genuinely poor in post-modern Britain (except, of course, spiritually), particularly when one considers the state of grinding poverty that exists throughout the third world. The surly denizens of our grimy sink estates are kitted-out with the latest in mobile phone technology and sports apparel. Habitations in these areas, those not burnt-out or boarded-up that is, are invariably festooned with a Sky satellite dish. None of these things speak of poverty and the fact that, despite the ownership of these non-essential luxury items, many of the hard-faced people who inhabit these areas still exhibit a propensity towards criminality is more suggestive of the narcissism and amorality that characterises their worldview and the brutal culture they have fashioned for themselves than material poverty.
Our adolescents are particularly vulnerable to this provocation (for that is what it is), primarily because of their amorality, but also because of their indoctrination by those sections of our frivolous and degrading popular 'culture' which present criminality, drug-abuse and sexual permissiveness as being desirable traits. This vulgar anti-culture, which on the one hand encourages absurdity and moral laxity (see Big brother, I'm a Celebrity…, countless soap operas, the debauchery of pop musicians et cetera) and on the other glorifies criminality (see countless gangster films – from Lock, Stock… to Boyz in the Hood – games like the Grand Theft Auto series and some Hip Hop) is having a deeply detrimental effect on the attitudes of the nations' youth. It may not be going too far to suggest that as much as punitive sentencing and prisons will indubitably make crime a less appealing prospect to our more timid potential wrongdoers, real headway will not be made until the poisonous immorality and idiotic triviality that characterise this 'culture' is addressed.
The question of why the government has come to rely on such weak and ineffective measures is complex, but may be briefly pared down to two dominant factors: firstly, with increasing anti-social behaviour on our streets and a chronic lack of prison spaces the government has been forced to bring in legislation which allows for the speedy processing of minor offenders whilst keeping them clear of prison: secondly, the government's attitude towards crime is based on the fallacious belief that criminals are themselves largely the 'victims' of poverty. But in this poverty=criminality equation, believed and promulgated by the majority of liberal leftists, wrongdoers have been handed the perfect ready-formed excuse for their unpleasant deeds, happily disavowing personal responsibility for their behaviour and placing blame instead upon their lowly socio-economic status, which they loudly proclaim they cannot alter (should have paid more attention at school, eh?). 'I wanna piece of the cake,' whined a spliff-smoking black gang-banger from London, interviewed for the Ross Kemp on Gangs series, when asked why locals displayed an alarming propensity for gunning each other down in the street. What nobody had the courage to tell the indignant young man and his cronies was that, of course, everybody wants a piece of the cake, but that you generally have to invest sincere effort to gain it; sitting indolently in your government-sponsored crack den waiting for a slice to come knocking will get you nowhere. Besides, recent research is pointing to the uncomfortable reality – uncomfortable for leftist liberals, at any rate – that many wrongdoers indulge in criminal activity, particularly street crime, because they take pleasure in it and because it earns them credibility in the much sought approbation of their thuggish peers and the fear, or 'respect', of their rivals.
Many will also agree that it is preposterous to suggest that anybody is genuinely poor in post-modern Britain (except, of course, spiritually), particularly when one considers the state of grinding poverty that exists throughout the third world. The surly denizens of our grimy sink estates are kitted-out with the latest in mobile phone technology and sports apparel. Habitations in these areas, those not burnt-out or boarded-up that is, are invariably festooned with a Sky satellite dish. None of these things speak of poverty and the fact that, despite the ownership of these non-essential luxury items, many of the hard-faced people who inhabit these areas still exhibit a propensity towards criminality is more suggestive of the narcissism and amorality that characterises their worldview and the brutal culture they have fashioned for themselves than material poverty.
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