August 17, 2005
Oh no. Here we go around the unhappy circle of virtue again
Social services spokesman says:
"We need wider understanding and acceptance that the principles of sentencing are not just founded on punishing offenders."Of course, this all means fewer prison sentences, more early release, more crime and more victims. You may not believe me, and that's fine. We should just wait until the next round of social services style rhetoric comes from the usual quarters. Trust me, their motivation will be high crime, their analysis will be that criminals just need a little help to change, their conclusion will be less punishment and more happy, happy, clappy.
It's easy to criticise, you might think, and in truth it is. But that's not my fault.
My suggestion? Don't treat criminals as if you are answering a cry for help. Attack those things that entice the innocent into crime in the first place. Work harder on changing the effort to reward ratio offered by crime and by that I mean increased crime solving rates and successful prosecutions (note - not detection rates).
Instead we have a situation where the ratio is going in the other direction. Crime should be hard to commit successfully and, when unsuccessful, the criminal should know in no uncertain terms that it was far more trouble than it was worth.
