Repeat Offenders
At It Again! Watching police and forensics' programmes, I find it incredible, the number of repeat offenders that have criminal records as long as your arm. Even though they are prolific and perpetual offenders, they're still out there offending, impacting people's lives and causing misery for ordinary decent people. No matter how many chances you give them, it seems it's never enough! As soon as they're let out, they're at it again. The annual cost of reoffending to the taxpayer is estimated at around £18 billion.
Revise Our Thinking! Channel 5's Police Suspect No.1 (S3,E1) covered two separate instances of shops being robbed for till contents. In one instance, staff were threatened with a knife. In the other instance, with a meat cleaver. The shop keeper was told he would have his hands chopped off if he didn't open the till. The knife offender had convictions for 45 previous offences - bad enough you would think, but no, he was easily topped by the other, who had a record of criminal convictions amounting to 95, spanning 25 years of offending. He's nearly into treble figures, and he's STILL out there causing problems for the ordinary decent people! These were both damaged individuals, not interested in improving or repairing themselves. As in the majority of shop theft cases, both of these instances were drug-addiction driven crimes. We can stop this sort of crime overnight, but we need to revise our thinking (see drug section)!
Prison Factories! The police often say it's the same few faces causing the majority of all the problems. For me, there must become a point when society says enough is enough. Surely, when they reach a certain number of convictions, they should be kept inside, so the ordinary decent people in society don't have to put up with all the nonsense. There is a problem here, in as much as the cost of keeping prisoners inside is substantial, about £1000 a week. We also know that we don't have enough traditional prison places as it is.
Nothing New! However, this is perhaps where we need to be clever. Can prisons and prisoners do something towards paying for their own keep, with prisoners being able to work in a controlled work environment? Prison factories. Why not! This is obviously not a new concept, however, can we take a new approach and bring this concept into a modern and efficient age? Afterall, it potentially has substantial benefits and is actually good for everyone.
No Place! The Government has just released hundreds of prisoners from our prisons, due to prisons being seriously overcrowded. Many are now jobless and homeless, sleeping in tents on the streets. The likelihood of reoffending without proper support, somewhere to live, and a job, is high. Not everyone wants to out under those conditions. At least, whilst inside, people are fed and looked after. For some people, this is the only way that works for them without resorting to crime and criminal activity.