As I may have mentioned before, as a self-respecting authoritarian government, one of Nulab's main tactics is whipping up a climate of fear. Here's today's episode:
The home secretary is holding a "burglary summit" for England and Wales later amid fears that attacks on homes will rise because of the recession. Jacqui Smith is meeting representatives from the police, insurance firms, DIY stores and charities like Age Concern to examine ways of improving security.
Jacqboots was interviewed on BBC Breakfast, and said in all seriousness, that as burglaries were now at half the rate they were during the 1991 - 1993 recession; and we were heading into a recession, that burglaries were thus likely to rise in the near future.
Bill Turnbull pointed out quite reasonably that remembering to lock your doors and windows was important, of course, but people also complained about the police not taking it seriously and the lenient sentences given to offenders.
Jacqboots regaled him with merry tales about giving people more 'help'. "That means give them government money, doesn't it?", interjected Bill. Jacqboots then prattled brightly about the police doing more to identify potential offenders. Sorry dear, this isn't Minority Report, the public would be happiest if the police targetted actual offenders.
But Jacqboots never got round to addressing the 'lenient sentences' point, that would be too reassuring. She'd already done her job - creating a bit of a climate of fear, and she didn't to spoil it by saying that the government was actually going to do something about the perceived problem.
A simple solution
55 minutes ago
9 comments:
Why the hell will 'attacks on houses' go up because of recession. Lets be honest the type of people that commit this crime are not going to be affected in any way by the credit crunch. They live off the tax payer and their benefits are going up not down. They don't have mortgages etc and the cost of living is now going down. May be Jaq Boots means that now bankers and the government run the risk of losing their jobs they will turn to less glamerous ways of theiving to fund their fat cat life styles.
Sarah.. I misread Jaq Boots as Jag Boots.
The horrible image that created..
my eyes my eyes...
"“There were 69,000 break-ins at homes in England and Wales during the three-month period.
Burglaries of commercial premises were also up.
Ms Smith told BBC Breakfast she wanted to "get on the front foot" adding: "I think it's important that we act before there's a problem.”"
Presumably, she doesn't think it's a problem now....
So her house will be empty this afternoon?....hmm
The sentencing guidelines mandate jail for all domestic burglars outside highly exceptional circumstances; the median sentence is three years. If you think the problem is lenient sentencing (rather than not being caught, which may well be the case), you're simply factualy wrong.
New Courtroom defence for recidivist criminal " It's the recession innit " Nice one Jaqui.
Yes, agreed - but your rule-of-thumb is missing the step that says "only 1/6 of reported burglaries get solved". As I said, the problem isn't that the people who're caught are treated too leniently, it's that too many of the people who do it don't get caught.
JB, I knew you'd say that. But how many burglaries are reported? Half? A sixth? How many go unnoticed? So the fraction of actual burglaries that result in a punishment is tiny.
Then you will counter: burglars usually ask for "several other offences to be taken into consideration" and so on.
So let's agree that "too many of the people who do it don't get caught." and leave it at that.
People in jail have great difficulty in committing burglaries.
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