Increase in violent crime

[Cyclefrance]

It's easy to get dragged along by the media - like when there's one story of a a dog attacking a baby then suddenly there are three others about the same issue within days. Violent crime in the UK seems however to belong in a different category - we're seeing reports of youth-driven knife (and gun) killings two or three times a week, two even reported today - one a priest/vicar murdered in his own church grounds in Wales, and then a young boy attacked and killed in the west side of London.

Why so much knife and gun crime? Probably a combination of factors, certainly a fair share emanates from poorly thought-through legislation that paradoxically was meant to improve not destroy our way of life. For my part I see the breakdown of the family as one major area - no longer encouraged by our current government and in fact single or separate living is rewarded more by the benefits system. Loss of a balanced upbringing and the difficulties for the lone parent delivering desired results

Then there is the obsession our government has with targets - They're OK if they are carefully applied to address the real problem, but this is so seldom the case - 'tell me how you measure me and I will show you how I will act' is a phrase I have heard used to describe just how easily the wrong motivator can generate the wrong result. For our police it's a case of a target for the number of solved crimes - the more unsolved crimes left on your register the lower your rating, and there is naturally a battle to improve ratings. So why bother trying to solve the difficult time-consuming crimes when that is going to affect your ratings? - get 'em in the book! and that sadly means dealing with and looking for simple crimes to solve, like household disturbances, motoring offences and such-like. Then, of course there's the bureacracy that goes with an arrest or incident taking police time away from the job of finding the culprits.

Add large dashes of political correctness gone mad, lost opportunities to learn, absence of positive motivation, and loss of respect and responsibilty and you have the breeding ground amongst the young for gang culture spawning weapon bravado and drugs-inspired violence.

Government/political solutions at best seem to trim the problem at the edges: ASBOs that become status symbols, reward schemes that end up being abused and so on, with little attempt, energy or resources to look for and deal with the problem at its root.

God, I must be beginning to sound like Victor Meldrew, but has it always been really this bad? And will there ever be anyone with enough common-sense in power to know how to deal with this dangerously fast-escalating problem?