| As someone happy to be called a 'woolly liberal', there's some interesting points in the article. The debate on all these points could last for pages, but there is one that drives me nuts more than most - that's the idea that building more prisons and sending more people to jail will bring down the crime rate. Short term - yes, long term no. The US have tried and failed this approach and it doesn't address the problems.
What would my approach be you ask ? At a very high level :
Compulsory drug treatment for those convicted and test positive for anything harder than cannabis
A Ruldolph Guilliani 'broken window' approach in towns and cities
A large expansion of the Restorative Justice measures (e.g. vandels cleaning up the mess they made etc)
Compulsory parenting measures (parenting classes, curfews etc) for people with criminal kids
Creation of many more special units in schools to take disruptive kids, rather than excluding them or sending all the little buggers to one place where they can learn off each othert
Large expansion of the tutorial programme in schools to bring in role models to speak to kids
Large expansion of after school clubs and activities (probably with a large sporting element) - naughty kids could be made to attend
Will it cost a lot to do ? Yes. Will it cost less than building and staffing loads more prisons ? Undoubtly |