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September 21, 2005
What price crime and punishment?
From time to time, we have a case which raises some important issueas in relation to the way in which we deal with criminals. Murder should surely be seen as one crime that is worthy of, if not the death penalty, then, at the very least, permanent deprivation of liberty for the perpetrator? And what of the increasingly common cases of serial offenders, fueled usually by drug addictions, who rack up incredible criminal records before they even hit maturity - and who are still treated as "suitable for rehabilitation" despite all evidence to the contrary? It would seem, frequently, that the criminal justice system is driven more by compassion for the criminal than by the administration of justice for the victim.
This week has seen the conviction and sentencing of a young man whose record for burglary begins at the tender age of 10, for the cold blooded killing of a grandmother in a raid on a small jewellery store. His sentence of 22 years for this crime is risible - even though there are those who will argue that it will effectively mean his being "on parole" for the rest of his life - as he will be released "on licence" after serving half of this total. It is risible precisely because he was out of jail "on license" and electronically tagged when he committed this murder! In fact he had removed the tag within hours of his release, failed to report as required for interviews with his supervising parole officer and failed to observe the curfew imposed by his license for almost the entire two weeks he was supposedly "on license" - yet the supervisory authorities did absolutely nothing to control him!
Further he is a cocaine addict and so will simply keep on offending to feed his habit. All of this the authorities knew - but still decided to allow him loose, record for violence, sexual offences and all, on "license" to terrorise the community.
If this was an isolated case it would be bad enough, but it isn't, it is merely the most visible in a long and growing catalogue of similar cases all of which our crumbling legal system refuses to address properly. Even the Lord Chief Justice is a party to this with his latest directive to judges and magistrates to avoid locking up people for violent crime, burglary or assault - but to treat "white collar" crime and "sexual" offences more harshly. So, the message is clear, commit assault and manslaughter or rob someone of their possessions and you will be treated less harshly than a man who indulges in "insider trading" or "cooks" his company books.
The root of the problem does seem to be the perception that burglary and robbery are "victimless" crimes because no one is injured. Assault or murder have victims - but drink, drugs and "provocation" are all taken as "mitigation". Any crime committed by anyone under the age of 18 is treated as "youthful misdemeanour" and frequently rewarded, but the bottom line is really that nothing is punished anymore - unless you are white, middle class and do something which affects the profit to be made by the ruling classes speculation on the Stock Market!
The lack of any retribution, or at least the appearance of punishment, for crime is fueling a mindset that anything is permissable, and being caught is a badge of honour since it proves you are "hard". These are people who are caught up in a web created by their having no respect for anyone - least of all themselves - and who then seek to make themselves "respected" by intimidation or violent criminal activity. It is a malaise which reaches deeply into the entire psyche of crime and punishment - and one which makes a complete nonsense of any attempt at "rehabilitation" because, unless the root cause - the lack of respect for authority, lack of respect for society and lack of respect for self - is addressed, there can be no rehabilitation!
At the moment it would seem that there is too much focus on "forgive and rehabilitation" and not enough on making clear that crime is not something a civilised society is prepared to tolerate. Undisciplined behaviour in a child, if unchecked, leads to real behavioural and anti-social behaviour in their teens and to real crime in adulthood. If caught early and dealt with effectively - and reward/non-reward is not effective! - much of this sort of heartache can be prevented. Criminal Justice needs to refocus on punishment, correction and then on rehabilitation. The last cannot be achieved with being underpinned by the first two elements.
The Home Office currently wants to cut the cost of keeping people in prison - but this is a false economy since the real price then falls on those whose lives are destroyed, homes wrecked, possessions stolen by the likes of the violent hooligan jailed this week for murder. How many more must we suffer before someone in the Halls of Power has the guts to admit they have had it wrong and brings in the change of direction that is so patently needed?
Posted by The Gray Monk at September 21, 2005 02:03 PM
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Comments
Someone once told me that we cannot rehabilitate and punish at the same time. In the UK I would suggest we do neither, which might explain the degree of re-offending we are seeing. There appears to be no deterrence, and I for one would support the reintroduction of capital punishment (but only in wery limited circumstances). Also, life imprisonment for ex-capital offences should mean exactly that.
Another point that seems to be debated less is the high percentage of offenders who appear to be suffering from mental illness. How about building more mental hospitals then? Nope, that won't happen either. Another idea is the introduction of US-style '3 and you're out' sentences. I doubt if our politicians (another group suffering from mental illnesses) would support that! I know - how about locking up all politicians, then throw away the keys - and let summary justice prevail! No?
Posted by: Slim Jim at September 22, 2005 01:40 PM
I think having a deterrent would prevent the crime in the first place.www.wespyu.com
Posted by: gary at September 26, 2005 09:53 AM