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I would argue, yes you have to punish offenders but you also have to look at the reason why crime is increasingly becoming such a big problem in our society. I would argue a lot of this is down to the hegemony of the Thatcherite idea that there is "no such thing as society, only individuals and families". When this idea is bought, and boy has it been bought in Celtic Tiger Ireland, then its every man and woman for themselves and to hell with other people. If you can't get ahead by legitimate means then you're going to get ahead by illegitmate means or at least make life damned uncomfortable for those who you percieve to be better off. Youth grow up with no sense of community or belonging, no link to the past or older generations, so they in turn show no respect to these older generations. I spent the first ten years of my life in a council estate in Navan. Yes it was rough but it had a sense of community. Now you wouldn't go near the place. The small estate we moved to when I was ten was also a real community. In many ways it still is among the people who have been there for years. Today's housing estates, miles from any amenities, populated by commuters who don't have time to develope a community, who rarely see there kids or have time to bond with them are incubators of alienation. In a society such as this it is no wonder there is crime. The guy down the road is no longer someone you stand outside talking about gardening or football with, he's an identityless individual to be despised, jealous of or to look down on.
We need a society that attacks these ills, that builds communities not mass dormitories and we need a police force that is accountable to these communities, not divorced from them.