Just when is something going to be done....

[EternalOptimist]

I didn't mean literally just the schools but our society in general needs fixed. It took a long time to get this way, it won't be quick to fix, but if you just try to fix the broken individuals by jailing them, you will never be free of the problem because you are creating more of them as fast as you jail them.

I know what you mean.
My post was what to do about the backlog once the fix has been implemented

[George Parr]

You are falling victim to the fallacy that a broken society can be fixed with more laws. It can't: you need to fix society, and that can not be done with a stroke of the pen (especially if you believe that there is no such thing as society).

As John Ruskin said in the 19th century, if you fix the schools then you won't need to fix the prisons.

I agree but I also believe that if a crime is committed the punishment should fit it - in many cases now it clearly doesn't. For example, the two thugs in Norwich who were beating up a homeless man - a passer by tried to help him and so they killed him. Sentence - seven years for one thug, seven and a half for the other.

[TimberWolf]

Does the panel think the kind of thing would be less common if our national pastime wasn't going down the boozer, getting stoned and behaving like drunks?

[Paddy]

There is no correlation with death penalty and murder and if anything the fact that there has been so many miscarriages of justice should be the main reason for not having it. The death penalty should only apply to war criminals, politicians and corrupt civil servants.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...ers-per-capita

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Does the panel think the kind of thing would be less common if our national pastime wasn't going down the boozer, getting stoned and behaving like drunks?

Possibly, but the underlying cause is that we are an arrogant nasty shallow individualist society - unpleasant characteristics that Thatcher and others tapped into.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

My mum blames the Beatles & Harold Wilson/Roy Jenkins.

Works for me.

Give us a break. Roy Jenkins was the last Labour Home Secretary that I actually thought was OK.

[NotAllThere]

But I would have thought that part of the purpose of the law and order system would be to provide a deterrent to stop bad things happening in the first place.

When the police force was initially set up, its job was to maintain the peace - to prevent laws being broken, and to (try to) ensure the safety of the public. It was specifically not designed to investigate crime, or to track down miscreants. That job was for the magistrates.

[threaded]

When the police force was initially set up, its job was to maintain the peace - to prevent laws being broken, and to (try to) ensure the safety of the public. It was specifically not designed to investigate crime, or to track down miscreants. That job was for the magistrates.

Mission Creep.

[BrilloPad]

Only way to be safe is to kill all the children. Except mine. They are perfect.

[NickFitz]

They just need a hug.

http://forums.contractoruk.com/990099-post9.html

Nice pali!