to expect all the weirdos,murders,phyco's sent to jail to get "real" jail time[angry]

[ppie]

call me unreasonable but when are people sent to jail going to get real punishment??
It seems its quite the norm now just to get a couple of years for a stabbing, drink driving and kill somebody, give them a wee fine and a few points.Even better, jail them maybe 5 years and a five year ban, to run concurrently !!!!!. I want youth detention facilitys to be a detterent not a bloody holiday camp,where they "rehabilitate" playing a Wii anf flaming absailing.
No doubt some bleeding heart will say its not their fault and a bit of tlc will cure them. Well if god forbid if something happened to any of their family would they be happy if that was the punishment Rant over!!!

I saw a really interesting program on serial killers a few years ago and having tested lots of those in jail they had found that one thing they ALL had in common was very high testosterone levels combined with very low levels of seratonin (you know seratonin is that thing we don't have enough of when we're depressed). The low levels of "happiness" combined with high levels of aggression (testosterone) led to VERY dangerous men. I found that so fascinating and wondered why the bloody hell they can't test earlier in young boys lives for these levels and monitor them and help them to stabilise them through I don't know, mediaction or whatever. Because I know for bloody sure that if they found that out about women they'd be forcing HRT on all of us. I just don't know why it has to be commonly accepted that it is dangerous for women to walk home alone late at night and that we should take care/get taxis, not wear mini skirts,not get drunk, etc. etc. Why the F**k is the onus on us to alter our behaviour? Why isn't the attention on sorting out why men can become so damn violent and psycho. I don't know why locking them up afterwards is seen to be the answer; why not some bloody avoidance tacics that involve altering their hormone imbalance, rather than making women creep around feeling daft if they let themselves be vulnerable by walking home from a bus stop at night.

Peasoup, many also have one or more extra Y chromosomes.

Squonk - fair point, I'm more concerned about serial criminals ie people who really do lead a life of crime, not murderers, as I'm more likely to get murdered by someone I'm already living with than a stranger IYSWIM (or maybe that's just me)

Career criminals worry me a lot more - people who burgal houses rarely get caught or people who keep re-offending with DWUI or other repetative offenses.

Do agree it seems a bit topsy turvey, BUT most murderers don't re-offend and a lot of petty criminals do.

So why lock up the people who aren't going to commit anymore crimes? How does that serve society. Personally I'd much rather see the hardenned burglars behind bars for very long stretches, as this would mean my house wouldn't get robbed, than a one off murderer behind bars for life, when he/she could actually be doing something to pay back society for his crime.

Generally when you let out a career burglar, they re-offend as it IS their career...

The system doesn't work, else there'd be less re-offending.

What would you do? More jail time, more re-habilitation?

What do we do with the individual who just won't obey the basic laws and doesn't give a fig for the rights of others OR the responsibilities THEY have towards society? Just keep paying the insurance?

that sounds an interesting thing to discover.

I meant his or her crime - not all murderers being men and all that...

The thing that is responsible for the vast majority of crime is drugs though. If only they could work out how to re-habilitate drugs users the crime rate would really drop. You would then have lots of lovely space in all those prisons for sorting out the rest

Burglary is quite often drugs related - to pay for the habbit - this is especially true with career burglars I expect

peasoup - never knew that. V interesting and totally agree about the HRT bit . It would be mandatory overnight - lol

Exactly what I was about to say fletcharr, the peopel committing pety crimes like shoplifting and burglary are drug addicts, down and outs, if they had something else to live for, had some education behind them and had the psychological issues for their drug taking dealt with then many, granted not all, would stop offending.

If we can discover WHY crimes are being committed in the first place and nip it in the bud then we are onto a winner, unfrotunately with many criminals they start at a young age, whilst they should still be at school and by the time the system can actually do anything about it it's too late.

Drugs terrify me, hate the thought of having to tell the kids about them.

Very controversial - what about legalising drugs and TAXING them, would this reduce the criminal element?

Also re: prostitution, would running brothels as they do in some states in the USA cut down and reduce crime? IMHO I think yes...not a very morally palatable pill I know, but I always think that a lot of the girls would have more of a chance if it was a regulated rather than illegal career path IYSWIM, and having soliciting as a criminal offence hasn't reduced the uptake of this particular career IMHO. Plus drugs seem to creep into it so much...

I have a 19 year old PPie, and he has friends that have got involved with drugs. It is hard, and once your kids of that age their friends are more of an influence than you are.

Thankfully we have escaped mostly unscathed

Drugs themselves aren't the issue, you'll rarely find a drug addict that has no pyschological problems.
The reasons people start to take the drugs is what we need to focus on, though of course if we didn't have drugs it would help, but peopel would turn to some otehr form of vice, be it legal or illegal.

"don't know why locking them up afterwards is seen to be the answer; why not some bloody avoidance tacics that involve altering their hormone imbalance, rather than making women creep around feeling daft if they let themselves be vulnerable by walking home from a bus stop at night."

Because this is an incredibl;y simplistic view, and ebcause we can';t go around drugging pepople on the off chance they might offend.

Hormon imbalance is the tip of the iceberg - I bet if you look into serial murder cases, the perpetrator will have a background of abuse, rejection etc.

Legalising prostitution wouldn't help the drug addicts.
If it was legal then it would need restrictions, ie.e drugs/disease testing, possibly even psychological testing to be sure the prostitues were not being forced into it, so there would still be street hookers, and they would probably have even less protection than now, at least the police know what is going on with the sex trade, if it had to go compeltely underground they wouldn't.

Thieves - chop their hands off
Rapists - Chop their dicks off
Murderers - Shoot em

Well thats what my grandad used to say

VS, good point. Drugs and alcohol are usually used to self-medicate away other issues.

I do believe that legalising and regulating drugs would be one way to reduce their impact on a majority of people, also when pure prescription heroin stopped being widely available in the 1980's, this led IMO to the criminal downfall of many heroin addicts who had been able to function within society until the point at which their clean, legal and inexpensive supply ran out. Some people will self-medicate in some way, to alleviate their personal issues and I think prescription support of this nature would enable these people the time and space to sort themselves out, without resorting to criminal means for supporting their habit.

as much gibberish as your granny, granpa. mum ect whitter on about you have to admit they may have been right about national service. remember that programm, Lads Army, it fair changed some of them! A good arse kicking worked wonders

missmary, I'm afrad I don't believe you have a clue.
Even if the punishment was harsher why would a drug addled burglar care? They wouldn't be expecting to get caught anyway, plus their lives are often so shit that prison isn't really that bad.
Even in the worst prisons in the UK they still get three square meals and a roof over their heads, that's a lot to be desired for many criminals.

They used to give heroin on prescription????

Al;l I can say is thank fuck some of you aren't prime-minister

Yes, heroin was available on prescription for registered addicts.

It is a lot 'nicer' than the methadone that is used today, generally, as I understand that heroin withdrawal is a shorter process so if/when a user decides it is time to stop, they can do so more easily.

Lots of people were able to hold down jobs, look after their children and families and get on with life when they had prescription heroin. I'm not advocating getting a habit, but for some people they have a weakness/need to stop feeling a particular way.

Some people use alcohol, some drive too fast, some hit their partners, some hit themselves. People cope with ife in a variety of ways.

When registered addicts could get a clean and regular supply of their chosen bent, they atleast had a chance to function within society.

Couldnt make much more of mess that the last few

btw, I can spell, I've just let my typing go to pot on this thread