I was quite surprised by one of the BBC's accounts of the looting of shops in that, 'Looters cleared the stock of Currys, Claire's Accessories & Phones4U, nearby Waterstone's was left 'without a scratch'!"
Seems that earrings, mobiles, White goods and electronic consumer goods define those who seek to engage in out of hours shopping (AKA looting). So it seems that the assessments of the experts in that those who are doing the stealing are an educated and marginalised unemployed bunch of the poorest in our nation. So, taking into account the views of others:
• if we remove those who are caught from social housing, remove their housing benefits and take away all and any other benefits they might receive - how fo we address the issues of this underclass?
• if they have nowhere to live and no income, how will they get the money to live other than by theft (for they will become untouchables and uneanted) and do the response fuels the very acts that we condn.
• what lessons will the children of the new underclass learn? Having seen the way other
marginalised groups (taking as a 'for example' the case of Tinker/Traveller families) are received and the way they live within communities, it seems that neither side will see anything that enhances, or remedies, the situation!
This is not about underclasses but about thriving classes and we need some joined up, literate and balanced responses, notify 'flogging, jailing, or whatever'
Pax
postscript
Been thinking and praying things through and wonder how we touch those who engage in rioting and other anti-social acts both on terms of punishment and Christian endeavour?
2 comments:
Rioting and looting...
Say what you want about Northern Ireland but we have always had a higher class rioter, bricks, petrol bombs even automatic weapons yet we never stooped to looting :)
The problem is of course that here people learned very quickly that crime pays. Smash up your area, destroy a building and hey presto you get hundreds of thousands of pounds in "community regeneration" and a new youth club and community centre.
Now in England kids too are starting to learn that crime pays. The problem is showing them with actions not just words that it doesn't... before it's too late.
So much hot air around on the root causes of the riots and looting, but it seems that it's not exclusive, its quite inclusive, hence the wide range of people who've been put before the courts so far.
The government and the courts seem to be taking a hard line. I'm sure that locking them up for 6 months or so, will only be a short term solution, as they will be back on the streets within 4 months due to the sentence limitations and time served. They will come out, with short, sharp further education in crime, as there's no time or scope for rehabilitation.
I don't have any solutions, apart from the fact that we can't afford to ignore what has happened, and we need to face the fact that our society is flawed and the model we've allowed to develop for particularly, the young is corrupt and needs reform.
How can we build citizenship, pride in themselves, hope and a future without significant time and investment, and perhaps an element of compulsion for them to join in? I don't know, but we ignore it at our peril.
I've heard it suggested that we need to bring back national service and that a couple of years in the armed forces will give them the discipline and skills needed to be good citizens. That's a non starter, we've disposed of the crown jewels in terms of barracks, real estate and training areas, and we can only offer a good war every couple of years to keep them busy.
Some form of paid, compulsory national service, which both equips and trains them, gives them a discipline of routine, expectation and hope of employment might work. And it seems that the big society might provide the opportunity. But, if it's not resourced, it's a non-starter.
If we do nothing, we can look forward to more of the same.
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