Criminals won't be punished

At last the government are finally thinking of doing something against crime. They haven’t actually done anything yet though. Gordon Brown has promised intensive action to deal with gangs with tough enforcement of the law while Jacqui Smith, our Home Secretary is also making noises about it. The trouble is they don’t have any ideas. They are just trying to look good.

I think our Home Secretary must still be on drugs. Instead of punishing yobs that destroy communities she wants to make them sign a contract to pledge that they won’t do anything illegal. It must be because yobs think that knifing people is perfectly legal. Yeah that must be it. Why is she a government minister?

The Metropolitan Black Police Association are even dafter than the Home Secretary. They have decided to offer a new course to teenage yobs. The course will cover issues such as the use of guns and knives, the effect on victims of crime, stop and search legislation, and the portrayal of violence in films, hip-hop music and the media. It will also help young people learn how they can contact and influence police, politicians and other members of the community. Hopefully they won’t be skipping school but this isn’t going to work. I think they will want to know about stop and search legislation so they know their rights when they are about to be arrested.

Scotland has already tried not punishing teenage yobs. They spent £100 million on schemes to stop them committing crimes and that money has been proven to be a total and utter waste of money.

What these criminals need is real punishment and not friendly schemes. Bring back the stocks and let their terrorised neighbours pay them back. Let their friends see what is happening to them so they are suitably humiliated into not doing it again.