The problem is that prison is not a deterrent for prolific offenders AND becomes a training ground for newly incarcerated offenders to refine their trade. "Retribution and Revenge" mentality simply creates a revolving door with an ever-increasing number of offenders and victims.
Rehab doesn't help one iota if criminals are dumped back into the same shitty situtations they came from. The vast majority of violent crime is a product of deprivation and stress and the majority of theft/assaults are opportunistic (planned) events where prison doesn't even enter the thoughts of the offender.
Systemic white collar crime is an area which needs far more attention. It affects vastly more people and usually has more profound long-term effects (including creating conditions where violent crime festers) - The people involved tend to be sociopathic, planning ahead and taking steps to not be detected, whilst making themselves trusted members of the victim community/company in order to advance the deception.
I'm sure that people are already trotting out "namby-pamby bleeding heart liberal" responses, but from a purely economic point of view the costs of continuing the approach and trajectory we're currently on is vastly higher than the costs of NOT changing the approach. Fixing the problem rather than putting endless sticking plasters on the symptoms is a better long-term strategy. Meantime we're rapidly approaching an end game and rich/poor divide which may result in events of the 18th century returning to haunt us.
Let's not forget that for all the moral panic and media handwringing, the largest victim group of violent crime is young men, at the hands of other young men and the same social attitudes which drive that are also the ones which drive family violence. Trying to fix complicated issues by addressing the symptoms in a simplistic manner is like trying to fight off a flu pandemic by announcing a war on sneezing.
Hmm, would I be remiss in suggesting that I could guess, with laserlike accuracy, the demographics of repeat offenders dealt with in such surprisingly lenient fashion? The problem with every British alarmist about knife crime, considering the people we all know are responsible for most of it, is the endless harrumphing that "someone should do something!" whilst all your political elites [except Nigel on a good day] make it clear as an azure sky that the only people who need live in fear are the natives of the UK--especially those who are gainfully employed, but with no political juice. And now Australians are wondering why their govt is in such a rush to accept unvetted refugees from Gaza.
This is why us dumb yanks don't want to surrender our guns. Because our 1st Amendment isn't worth much without the 2nd Amendment to defend it. If you people succeed in pushing out Labour before they start building prisons to hold all the unruly nativists, try to do something about that. And another unpopular opinion, while we're at it: Since many criminologists like yourself have noticed the extreme Pareto distribution of violent crime, the death penalty might not be a bad idea. While it has not proven a reliable deterrent to other criminals, it has been resoundingly effective at discouraging recidivism. Just saying...
Interesting piece, to me it shows there must be a tipping point at which people become career criminals and no amount of rehab will make a noticeable difference. It suggests we really need to rethink the approach, greater focus on trying to break the cycle far earlier and longer sentences as the individuals become career criminals.
I’m genuinely shocked by this. I knew that our court system was a joke and that we are governed by fools whose worldview is utterly detached from reality. But they collect this data, and still are permitted to get away with this? Who would you say is most responsible for this? Is it CPS? Or the individual judges? Is there some perverse pressure on the judges to act in such an insane manner? Why were the conservatives incapable of resolving such a fundamental issue during 14 years in power?
Thank you for collating this blog post. While depressing, it is valuable to have the countries failure written up so clearly.
The problem is that prison is not a deterrent for prolific offenders AND becomes a training ground for newly incarcerated offenders to refine their trade. "Retribution and Revenge" mentality simply creates a revolving door with an ever-increasing number of offenders and victims.
Rehab doesn't help one iota if criminals are dumped back into the same shitty situtations they came from. The vast majority of violent crime is a product of deprivation and stress and the majority of theft/assaults are opportunistic (planned) events where prison doesn't even enter the thoughts of the offender.
Systemic white collar crime is an area which needs far more attention. It affects vastly more people and usually has more profound long-term effects (including creating conditions where violent crime festers) - The people involved tend to be sociopathic, planning ahead and taking steps to not be detected, whilst making themselves trusted members of the victim community/company in order to advance the deception.
I'm sure that people are already trotting out "namby-pamby bleeding heart liberal" responses, but from a purely economic point of view the costs of continuing the approach and trajectory we're currently on is vastly higher than the costs of NOT changing the approach. Fixing the problem rather than putting endless sticking plasters on the symptoms is a better long-term strategy. Meantime we're rapidly approaching an end game and rich/poor divide which may result in events of the 18th century returning to haunt us.
Let's not forget that for all the moral panic and media handwringing, the largest victim group of violent crime is young men, at the hands of other young men and the same social attitudes which drive that are also the ones which drive family violence. Trying to fix complicated issues by addressing the symptoms in a simplistic manner is like trying to fight off a flu pandemic by announcing a war on sneezing.
Hmm, would I be remiss in suggesting that I could guess, with laserlike accuracy, the demographics of repeat offenders dealt with in such surprisingly lenient fashion? The problem with every British alarmist about knife crime, considering the people we all know are responsible for most of it, is the endless harrumphing that "someone should do something!" whilst all your political elites [except Nigel on a good day] make it clear as an azure sky that the only people who need live in fear are the natives of the UK--especially those who are gainfully employed, but with no political juice. And now Australians are wondering why their govt is in such a rush to accept unvetted refugees from Gaza.
This is why us dumb yanks don't want to surrender our guns. Because our 1st Amendment isn't worth much without the 2nd Amendment to defend it. If you people succeed in pushing out Labour before they start building prisons to hold all the unruly nativists, try to do something about that. And another unpopular opinion, while we're at it: Since many criminologists like yourself have noticed the extreme Pareto distribution of violent crime, the death penalty might not be a bad idea. While it has not proven a reliable deterrent to other criminals, it has been resoundingly effective at discouraging recidivism. Just saying...
This is an excellent (if very depressing) piece - thank you for plugging away at this issue.
Interesting piece, to me it shows there must be a tipping point at which people become career criminals and no amount of rehab will make a noticeable difference. It suggests we really need to rethink the approach, greater focus on trying to break the cycle far earlier and longer sentences as the individuals become career criminals.
Very important research, thank you Neil. I'm now even more glad that I campaigned to get you re-elected! ;)
I’m genuinely shocked by this. I knew that our court system was a joke and that we are governed by fools whose worldview is utterly detached from reality. But they collect this data, and still are permitted to get away with this? Who would you say is most responsible for this? Is it CPS? Or the individual judges? Is there some perverse pressure on the judges to act in such an insane manner? Why were the conservatives incapable of resolving such a fundamental issue during 14 years in power?
Thank you for collating this blog post. While depressing, it is valuable to have the countries failure written up so clearly.