Politicians proudly explain how every teenager found on film is going to be hunted down and punished. Is this a good thing? How will it help people's homes un-burn, and their cars not explode, and help heal broken jaws and communities? Policing needs to happen in real time, not with a passive punishment based methodology. What's the lesson going out to future rioters? Make sure to cover your face or you will be caught and jailed.
Should police be allowed to carry guns? Maybe. The rioters should not have had a monopoly on force, that's the role of government. However, this whole situation started with an officer fatally shooting a suspect.
I'm annoyed with Prime Minister Cameron's supposedly tough talk. How will jailing twelve-year-old's, making their families lose their benefits and housing and ostracizing them further help prevent future crimes? They're twelve. He suggests he wants their involvement with riots to be something that haunts them for the rest of their lives. Fine, but what about the rest of their lives? They need to be integrated into society.
I'm not speaking against punishment. I'm speaking against only using punishments and not paying enough attention to real time policing and the rehabilitation of teens who still have decades to live as British citizens.
Also I feel for the parents who have twelve years olds who made stupid decisions and joined their friends in the streets. They may not have done anything other than shoplift a pack of gum, but they were there and because of that they are guilty. Imagine if every kid who ever robbed a stick of gum were jailed? Early adolescence is a confusing time when kids are soon to turn into little adults capable of making their own decisions, but are not quite there yet.
Yesterday on the BBC, I heard an interview of a mother who's friend gave her a stolen pair of shorts. She was not directly involved with the riots. She has two young children. She was sentenced to five months in jail because of the shorts. This sounds absurd.
Many people are confusing vengeance for justice. The courts are right to hand out some of the jail sentences. Some of the crimes committed in the riots were serious. Murder, arson, assault... but how do these jail sentences suggest a safer future in London's streets? And Prime Minister Cameron still wants to cut police funds? Cameras and jail sentences do not guarantee or even suggest long term justice and security.
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