Monday, November 06, 2006
Soft on crime?
Jackie Ashley in today's Guardian reports that Labour plans to open its winter assault on David Cameron's Conservatives for being soft on crime; 'the friends of yobs; hoodie-hugging, wet, limp-wristed, liberal, namby-pamby, bleeding-heart do-gooders.'
The Queen's speech, says Blair, will be dominated by the Home Office - new laws on terrorism, crime, yobbery, immigration, you name it. Brown has decided that extra funds must be spent. Everybody in the cabinet seems to believe that by asking us to understand disaffected youths a little more and condemn them a little less, Cameron has left himself open to a serious kicking.
Since 1997 there have been more than 50 major Home Office bills, which is more than all the criminal-justice bills in the whole of the previous century. There have been 1,300 new regulations, hundreds of initiatives and a doubling of the Home Office's central staff. There are more police. Since 2001, when the spending tap was turned back on, the numbers have been rising steadily: England and Wales have a record 143,000 police officers, and the first 6,300 community support officers too. There are more people in prison. Britain has added roughly 20,000 more people to overcrowded jails since New Labour's arrival in power, taking the country's jails to the brimming edge of absolute capacity.
You cannot fault the political initiative-itis or, for the past few years, the money either. Yet public hysteria about crime is worse than ever. According to police, reported crime figures, violent crimes and crimes of "violence against the person" (they are recorded separately) are rising remorselessly. The last figures show the use of handguns in crime up 7% on the previous year, to 4,652 offences, and injuries from guns up 16%. What about knife crime? There is a row about the evidence, but reports suggest it's a rising problem again
Whilst overall crime is down, this does not accord with public perception, much of which is based on anti-social behaviour in people's own locality and the rhetoric of politicians keen to use the subject for personal advantage. Reports last week reinforced the view that ASBOs are not as effective as the Government claimed, whilst other measures introduced by Labour are also failing to have the sort of impact they hoped for.
The truth is that yet another Queen's speech stuffed full of anti-crime measures will be an admission of failure by this government. Whilst they continue to whip up emotions on this issue Labour are also drawing attention to nearly ten years of impotent hyperactivity. As Jackie Ashley says, they have forgotten to deal with the causes of crime.
The jails are full to overflowing but we are not investing in educating and retraining inmates ready to live a useful life on release, we are not putting resources into programmes to help them off dependency on drugs and alcohol nor are we trying to keep young people out of prison by putting these programmes into place in our most deprived communities. Resources in youth work are scarce to non-existent and important facilities that might keep kids off the streets are not there.
Labour's failure to invest in prevention, their emphasis on the stick when the carrot might be more efficacious and their preference for party political rhetoric rather than effective action has let everybody down. Shouting at the top of your voice from the rooftop and pointing the finger at your opponents does not amount to being tough on crime, it is a sign of desperation.
The Queen's speech, says Blair, will be dominated by the Home Office - new laws on terrorism, crime, yobbery, immigration, you name it. Brown has decided that extra funds must be spent. Everybody in the cabinet seems to believe that by asking us to understand disaffected youths a little more and condemn them a little less, Cameron has left himself open to a serious kicking.
Since 1997 there have been more than 50 major Home Office bills, which is more than all the criminal-justice bills in the whole of the previous century. There have been 1,300 new regulations, hundreds of initiatives and a doubling of the Home Office's central staff. There are more police. Since 2001, when the spending tap was turned back on, the numbers have been rising steadily: England and Wales have a record 143,000 police officers, and the first 6,300 community support officers too. There are more people in prison. Britain has added roughly 20,000 more people to overcrowded jails since New Labour's arrival in power, taking the country's jails to the brimming edge of absolute capacity.
You cannot fault the political initiative-itis or, for the past few years, the money either. Yet public hysteria about crime is worse than ever. According to police, reported crime figures, violent crimes and crimes of "violence against the person" (they are recorded separately) are rising remorselessly. The last figures show the use of handguns in crime up 7% on the previous year, to 4,652 offences, and injuries from guns up 16%. What about knife crime? There is a row about the evidence, but reports suggest it's a rising problem again
Whilst overall crime is down, this does not accord with public perception, much of which is based on anti-social behaviour in people's own locality and the rhetoric of politicians keen to use the subject for personal advantage. Reports last week reinforced the view that ASBOs are not as effective as the Government claimed, whilst other measures introduced by Labour are also failing to have the sort of impact they hoped for.
The truth is that yet another Queen's speech stuffed full of anti-crime measures will be an admission of failure by this government. Whilst they continue to whip up emotions on this issue Labour are also drawing attention to nearly ten years of impotent hyperactivity. As Jackie Ashley says, they have forgotten to deal with the causes of crime.
The jails are full to overflowing but we are not investing in educating and retraining inmates ready to live a useful life on release, we are not putting resources into programmes to help them off dependency on drugs and alcohol nor are we trying to keep young people out of prison by putting these programmes into place in our most deprived communities. Resources in youth work are scarce to non-existent and important facilities that might keep kids off the streets are not there.
Labour's failure to invest in prevention, their emphasis on the stick when the carrot might be more efficacious and their preference for party political rhetoric rather than effective action has let everybody down. Shouting at the top of your voice from the rooftop and pointing the finger at your opponents does not amount to being tough on crime, it is a sign of desperation.
