Oh dear, what a country. I just cant beleive how many young people are getting stabbed these days. Surley something can be done. I am scared of young teenagers and i certainly wouldnt approach a gang of them. The country has gone mad, if you do tackle these thugs you get thrown in jail and the thug gets away free. Britain seems to have everything the wrong way round, i ask whats so Great about it? Are other countries like this? And yes i am britsh born and bred.
Limerick in Ireland Johannesburg in South Africa Delhi in India And I'm sure there is a huge list of crime-infested cities in the world. Don't worry mate. You're not alone.
I don't think there is a need for worry, what is the crime statistics in Great Britain? A few stories being sensationalized by the local media is nothing to worry about unless a worrying trend with regards to increasing crimes evolved. Just another way for newspapers to grab more eyeballs, that's all.
According to the BCS: In 2006/07 the total number of crimes in England and Wales was around 10,912,000.
Sounds like you have a problem with too many laws, not too many crimes. You could cut crime in half by decriminalizing some of your stupidest laws.
I suggest you seriously consider moving to Canada... But I agree, gangs-related crime is a major problem in most cities across the world. Learning self-defense is a necessity. The other way out can be you form your own gang, or join one. This way, you can be safe.
IMHO being part of a gang is contributing to the problem itself itself of solving the problem. Really not a solution at all. Learning self defense organizing community self support team would be a good idea though.
even kids a young as 7 are carrying knives, i mean what are the parents doing letting them out late at night like this. Surley the parents are as much to blame. I have a young daughter and fear for her all the time. Scary man. guerilla i think you have a valid point, the problem is the human right activists, in my opinion if you commit a crim your rights should be stripped. People, especially law enforcement and goverments are scared to say the truth, where the freedom of speech gone these days ay?
Punishment is not a deterrent to serious crime. The question is how real is the problem, and why is it occurring? Creating more laws, hiring more police and creating stiffer penalties NEVER WORKS. The answer is in addressing the cause, whether it is opportunities, education, counseling etc. The change has to be made within the consciousness of individuals, not by mass coercing society as a whole.
True and absolutely true that education and counseling is the best way for society. But these take effect in a couple of months or even years. It takes constant work and constant budgeting for such work to be done to install civic mindedness into society. Problem as of now is crimes are happening right now which needs to be taken care of. I would feel a dual approach of both education and deterrent for effective immediate as well as future solutions for a society.
Most people are not psychopaths. They commit crime for a reason, not without a reason. The idea is to address the reason for committing the crime, not to try to make them fearful of doing something that might be their only option based on their circumstances.
Or, we could have a mixture of both. We can counsel people who are actually in need of help. If, considering their circumstances, what they did was unavoidable, we can address the reason, etc. But what do you do with a pedophile? a rapist? a burglar who leaves no evidences by killing everyone in the home he breaks into? These people need severe - I repeat - SEVERE - punishment.
Pedophilia is a mental disorder, or so Wikipedia says. Rape, I don't know why people rape, but it's clearly not because they are capable or seeking healthy relationships. Burglar? It's more profitable than working. You have to understand human action. Why people would choose burglary, possibly getting shot or sent to jail, over a day job. A competent and skilled burglar is a professional thief, not a hobbyist. So a good idea would be to make burglary less profitable (less chance of success or reward), rather than trying to increase the risk of being caught (which is total BS, because most punishment is ex post facto). Severe punishment has never, ever been a deterrent to a determined criminal. How many rapists and pedophiles do you think sit around with an excel spreadsheet calculating the risk/reward of committing a sex crime? America has more people in jail than any other country in the world. It has the death penalty in some states. It has spent billions over the last 30 years on a drug war it could never win. Does it have lower crime than England? Canada? France? Why not?
I sort of agree with you on pedophilia. Those people should locked up in the asylum for good. But, I've seen many cases where individuals perfectly capable of a healthy relationship have had the audacity to rape women just for fun and knowing fully well that they're rich and powerful enough to escape through the loopholes of the system. Burglary is profitable than a day job. Sure it is. If that's the case, what do you do with a burglar? Counsel him and get a him a good day job which is profitable enough to stop him from burgling? I'm all for finding the root cause of a problem and taking action to make sure it never happens again, etc. But there are people who do such things willingly - even if they have the choice to not do it.
Pardon me for saying that. If I read about a heinous crime, I would hope that the criminal gets his just desserts, maybe death sentence and I am sure the majority of society would be rooting for that too. A sort of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth mentality. Not saying it is right, but seemed to be part of social behavior.