A trial scheme that offers female criminals the chance to go on courses instead of being punished could be extended to all adults.And why not? Why should anyone ever be punished in our Brave New World, if it means the police having to do some work?
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Cunningham said: "We have an ambition to extend it as far as we can.
"At the minute, it is only available to females who come into custody but, if it is successful, we will roll it out to females outside of custody as well and, hopefully, then to males."Thus making your job so much easier, which as we all know, is your main goal...
"That might start with a certain age range or certain types of offences.
"It will be a challenge to do that because we have to find the resources to do it."That's your only concern? Not that the people who pay your bloody wages might not agree?
"We would also have to find somewhere to direct the males, too, which we have for the women."Oh, don't worry! I'm sure there's any number of QUANGOs and fakecharities preparing for this as you speak...
The triage process is based on a similar project in Hull, which has dramatically reduced reoffending among child criminals.
More than 940 young offenders have been referred to the Hull Youth Justice Service for support instead of being prosecuted since the youth triage scheme was launched in July 2009.
Of those, 770 have stayed out of trouble.Well, no, 770 haven't been caught causing trouble, which is something rather different.
Far be it from me to suggest that, with the people employed to catch them instead spending all their efforts on finding ways of making their own job easier in future, the odds of that just got shorter...
Inappropriate cautioning made the news this morning. Chris Eyre the Acpo talking head on the subject made me shout at the radio very loudly for the first time in ages ...surprising I know. What a load of disingenuous bollocks about '...sensible officers doing what's best for communities...' - or along those lines anyway.
ReplyDeleteNo mention of the the target culture introduced by Labour and still carried on by forces because of the insatiable need to be able to quote statistics - especially the ling regarded inaccurate recorded/reported crime figures. No mention of those matters recommended for caution by in-station CPS reps. No mention of trials where some get cautioned and others not - Paddick's Brixton cannabis scheme for example; and certainly no mention of the culture of clear-ips and DNA harvesting that certainly did exist in my time.
This is one of those "it depends" issues. If it genuinely cuts recidivism, that is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with the idea of thinking laterally for a solution providing that it works.
I'd agree with Longrider if it wasn't for the fact of who is implementing it.
ReplyDeleteSo I suspect it'll simply be more of the 'let's try to bribe them by giving the scrotes money/iPads/holidays/courses that those who obey the law can't afford'.
I'm with Longrider on this one, thinking laterally.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately though, recidivism appears to reside in the DNA of many of our fellow citizens and I'm not all that sure that Tea, sympathy for their "plight" and re-education have any more chance of changing the thought processes of the offenders any more now than they have in the past. Whatever they are offered, the "new thinking" will only have a lasting effect if the person being re-educated really and truly wants to change their behaviour.
My solution - laterally thinking - is of a more Medieval nature. A day in the stocks would at least begin to cover the re-education aspect, whilst proceeds from the sales of rotten fruit could be used to compensate the victims.
On a side note, a couple of nights ago there was one of those "emergency biker"-type progs on the telly. The one where one of the locations where the ambulance crews are follwed round is Hull. Casually the presenter let slip the fact that 20% of the population of Hull is a registered substance abuser. So, 1/5th of the pop there are on drugs or are alcoholic.
ReplyDelete20+% of the workforce in Hull, in figures revealed a week or two ago, is employed in the public sector: thus clearing up after, arresting, or social working the 20% who are ripped off their t*ts.
That's NuLabournomics for you:- screw industry, we'll just get the proles on drugs or drink, then we can create a nice big hierarchy of jobs dealing with them.
It is the cynicism that I loathe. Social chaos and human misery as an engine of economic growth. I know it's hard to love chavs, it's hard to empathise with screaming single mothers with multi-fathered families. 50 years ago Hull was not a bad place, filled with decent people. It is a reasonable certainty that anyone having kids in 1963 would have wanted a future for them that was based around welfare dependency and social disintegration. The working classes never voted for a political party on that basis, but it is by the ministrations of successive governments of all stripes that Hull is where it is today.
I never discount individual endeavour and responsibility, but it is a govt's duty to ensure that the playing field is as level as possible. This they have failed to do for three generations, consigning a swathe of the population to degeneracy and futility.
One thing to consider is what happens to a structure when you kick its foundations away, because that is what this country has been doing for the last few decades.
"Inappropriate cautioning made the news this morning. "
ReplyDeleteYup - the rate of acceleration of breakdown of out justice system seems to be ever-increasing!
"If it genuinely cuts recidivism, that is a good thing."
Is it? Even if its side-effect is a further erosion of self-responsibility?
"So I suspect it'll simply be more of the 'let's try to bribe them by giving the scrotes money/iPads/holidays/courses that those who obey the law can't afford'."
Spot on! What need to be law-abiding, when the opposite gets you what you desire, with no downside?
"... recidivism appears to reside in the DNA of many of our fellow citizens and I'm not all that sure that Tea, sympathy for their "plight" and re-education have any more chance of changing the thought processes of the offenders any more now than they have in the past. "
It's not like we haven't tried lax punishment and no punishment in the last 20 years, is it?
"So, 1/5th of the pop there are on drugs or are alcoholic."
Which, I suspect, goes a long way to explaining why Hull features so often on this blog! I wonder what the percentages are for Bristol and Croydon?
Is it? Even if its side-effect is a further erosion of self-responsibility?
ReplyDeleteThat's just it, we don't know that it will. Prison, for example is merely giving them an apprenticeship in crime. Not sure that's an ideal solution - after all, it's been tried and failed. So for minor offences, I'm all for thinking laterally and giving people the option of changing their behaviour. If they don't, well, ton of bricks time.
Which, I suspect, goes a long way to explaining why Hull features so often on this blog! I wonder what the percentages are for Bristol and Croydon?
ReplyDeleteDon't look at me! Actually, I've yet to see many druggies or alkies when out and about in Bristol, so fairly low, I suspect.
".... I've yet to see many druggies or alkies when out and about in Bristol"
ReplyDeleteTry St Paul's.