Surprised this hasn't been mentioned 'ere yet...

[Terran]

And on that note,how would you propose to deal with crime?surely its obvious that softly softly is just as ineffective as you say being tough is? Anyway if we are to believe what we are told,no tolerence cleaned new york up a fair bit! Prisons if anything are the best example of how “No tolerance crackdown”…or “tough on crime”….does not work in the real world. These environments are highly controlled and completely authoritarian. Yet drug trafficking, robbery, drug usage, gang activity, assaults, bribery, extortion, murder, and rape occur regularly in these places. If we cant prevent crime within these controlled environments with these “tough on crime” guidelines how could we ever even hope to prevent it on the streets. And how come when someone points out how something does not work they immediately ask for an alternative as if in the absence of an alternative that we should continue doing things the wrong way. Im gonna pull out a Dr Phil type analogy Ill put it in quotes so you can skip it you wish cause its mostly unimportant….. NASA is trying to put a chimp into outer space by launching them out of catapults. Each time they try it, the chimp goes flying up into the air and comes flying back down to earth splats on the ground and dies. After the bodies of chimps really start to pile up a civilian says “Hey wait a minute this is not working all we are doing is killing a lot of chimps you cant put a chimp into space with a catapult” and Nasa responds “Well then, how would you propose to send a chimp into outer space!” “Well I dunno, but cant we just step away from the catapult for a moment and reevaluate this?” the civilian asks “That’s not progress and it does not even get a chimp an inch closer to outer space! what we need is bigger catapults, and tougher chimps!” Also I found your wording very interesting….. surely its obvious that softly is just as ineffective as you say being tough is? I would say surely its obvious that the toughest policy on crime would be the one that works most effectively. Being “tough” on crime would mean being effective at fighting it. It shouldn’t have anything to do with the methods involved. One could be horribly brutal in their approach towards crime and criminals but if that policy made things worse or was completely ineffectual wouldn’t that mean that this brutal policy is “soft” on crime or a weak attempt at fighting it. Alternatively if one could give these horrible criminals lollypops, hugs, cable TV, and stuffed teddy bears and if this prevented them from committing crimes wouldn’t this policy be considered “tough” on crime or strong at fighting it. This all being said here is some alternative changes. First and most crucial thing to fix is the prisons. Most importantly crush the gang activity. This causes nearly all of the crime in prisons and a decent amount of crime outside the prisons. Separate long term sentenced criminals from short term sentenced criminals. And I mean completely different facilities in different locations. They cant be close enough to communicate via hidden notes. Criminals that will be released back into society within a relatively short period of time need to be groomed to have the skills to make it in society. Offer schooling and trade school programs. With the trade schools have government run agencies that hire those trades. For Drug offenders offer extensive rehab programs. The non-life sentence prisons need to be dried out of all illegal drugs. Provide plenty of material inside prisons to keep minds busy. Books. TV. Arts/crafts ….etc [I got tons of prison reforms stuff….but I don’t want to turn this into just a prison thing. So Ill just stop here] Outside of prison stuff. Legalize marijuana. Tax Heavily like cigarettes [Address legality of other drugs at some later date] Use money to further fund extensive rehab programs and drug education programs. [This step alone will ease some of the strain on the prison system] Increase police force. [Mostly just in the areas that need the increase, in my county we get like four cops to show up before one will even exit the car every time a person gets caught speeding] Increase police patrols especially in problem areas. Increase youth programs, youth events, and clubs. Have units very early in school that deal with empathy towards people and that deal with aspects of crime and its effects on people. (Preschool, kindergarten, grade school). Hmm that’s all I got right now…….I could probably think of some more if I gave it some more thought…. terran...will you marry me? Maybe if you were a virgin Carmella Bing

[_liam_]

[Marie]

Make them do something while in prison. There seems to be too much sitting around being unconstructive... They ARE doing things while in prison. They're working out in the weight room and learning how to do other crimes from other inmates. We have made prison here into crime school. They come out stronger and with extra skills, none of which helps them get a regular job. We need to give them some alternative to learn honest skills. M_

[capncnut]

Does that say Hybrid? If anyone can read that s**t then please tell me.

[MinionZombie]

They ARE doing things while in prison. They're working out in the weight room and learning how to do other crimes from other inmates. We have made prison here into crime school. They come out stronger and with extra skills, none of which helps them get a regular job. We need to give them some alternative to learn honest skills. M_ Which is why I reckon there should be prisons where nobody shares a room, it's all solitary confinement, and possibly the only time they get to 'socialise' is out in 'the yard', but under surveilance so they can't really do anything. Solitary confinement, now there's something to be feared, it wouldn't be a bizarre summer camp experience anymore. As for the whole graffiti thing, like I was saying before, they need a designated area to go - like all those streets of crumbling, boarded up houses nobody apparently owns in Manchester, or crumbling old industrial areas, keep it in designated zones and then be tough elsewhere - or at least have a few squads of high-pressure-hose operators, that sh*t will blast it off no bother. Also, there was a report on TV recently (it seems like I learn everything from TV innit? I swear to you though, I have books too! ) ... anyway, it was on BBC News 24 or something, about taggers, and particular 'extreme taggers' or whatever they called themselves - people who hang from bridges or scale buildings to get the highest and most dangerous tag in place to earn street cred. They were saying that the illegality of it all was a major turn on, the thought of being caught spraying and then out-running the law was a big draw, and then of course it's all bragging rights... What you need to help the problem is commercialise the crap out of it! Make them either hate it or join the legal version! They mentioned Bristol (or was it Birmingham? ... one or the other...I've been to both) and I recognised some of the tagging. I remember driving through thinking "christ, how did they get up THERE?!" Then of course the whole thing with kids spraying moving tags on trains, and then taking their mates to the rail station the next day to show their 'moving artwork' or whatever they called it. This is a youth with nothing better to do...I can see where you're coming from on that particular videogame, Tricky. It glorifies an easily obtainable crime, not like GTA where it's pimping and murder and such ... that's not something many teenagers and lazy layabout 20-somethings do...but tagging, that is something a fair amount of teenagers do...so I see where you're coming from. Australia even banned the game.