Fix Poverty, Fix Crime

Shoplifters Of The World Unite.

Learn to love me
And assemble the ways
Now, today, tomorrow and always
My only weakness is a listed crime
But last night, the plans for a future war
Was all I saw on Channel Four

Shoplifters of the world
Unite and take over
Shoplifters of the world
Hand it over, hand it over, hand it over

Songwriters: Johnny Marr / Steven Patrick Morrissey.

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Every day on the news, there seem to be more violent assaults and murders, disturbingly, much of it appears to be random, the victims in the wrong place at the wrong time, even in their homes.

It’s not a good look for a government elected on a platform of Law and Order that there has been no noticeable reduction in crime.

The additional Police promised have failed to materialise, and the government’s only solution seems to be building more prisons and locking people up for longer.

It’s hard to argue with the groups they have targeted recently. Those who assault first responders or those who attack with “coward punches”, leading to awful long-term injuries or deaths.

Nobody is going to argue that people who attack those who come to help, or knock someone senseless, should be given sympathy. They are deplorable acts. However, locking these people up longer, much as it may resonate with some voters, doesn’t do anything to stop these horrible assaults beyond punishment after the fact.

We all know the factors: poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, people without hope who are marginalised by society and in some cases who walk among us as time bombs ready to explode without warning.

Addressing the causes of crime, in addition to severe penalties for violent assaults, has to be a more cost-effective approach, because it sure isn’t cheap to put someone in jail - the Government is currently spending more than $161,000 per year for each prisoner.

Taking measures to educate and support people rather than waiting until they unleash and then locking them up after the fact would mean fewer people in our prisons, and more importantly, might prevent some of these violent crimes.