Mourning Christina Edkins aged 16 died stabbed 7th March 2013
Crime police criminal justice system
We have a great deal of criminality. We have a very large prison population even though the chance of going to prison for a specific offence in the UK is quite a lot less than in other western countries. (Oxford Handbook of Criminology) So in total we have an awful lot of criminality which should make us hang our collective head in shame and make us think clearly about answers.
Most people in prison have not only done wrong but have had a poor lot in life and are damaged in some way (been in care, on drugs, poor achievement at school, etc etc.). I think that recovering a sense of purpose and purposefulness as a society as a whole is an essential part of the answer. If main stream people are doing good things we should be able to inspire others. The more people are inspired and envisioned the more they will look out from themselves and want to spend their lives usefully and be interested in the world about them.
That leads to education. Education to a lively workforce. Thence to employable people who like their jobs. Thence to good products selling well. Thence to more orders. Thence to more jobs. Thence to more people with better self-esteem and more invested in society. Thence to happier home lives. and gradually everything comes right. Drugs are less apealling. Families break up less. There’s more security without being in a gang. etc etc in a virtuous circle.
We need a firm and yet a reforming criminal justice system and a good likelihood of getting caught if any of us steps out of line. But we need jobs and a positive attitude in society and that’s what this vision helps to make a reality. And if we can get it right we will be very much better off. Crime costs a lot in money terms and in damaged lives of victim and perpetrator but the oportunity made possible is that of regaining a “can do” attitude as a society.
I haven’t got any figures on this page but we all know the kind of situation we face and this is, I think, a really important insight and road map for a way back to societal health and probity. BUT BUT it is a huge challenge to us all to live active, interested lives of service whatever our place in the “system” and doing our own job right is a good place to start. We need active citizens.