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Crime
Tony Blair said he would be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime”. While many steps have been taken to penalise those convicted of crime more severely, little if anything has been done to tackle the real issue – the causes of crime.

So long as these causes remain, people will needlessly be the victims of crime. This government tries to appear tough by locking up more people than any of our European neighbours and introducing draconian measures to penalise so-called “anti-social behaviour”. But little is done about corporate crime or tax evasion.

Respect rejects the approach of the three main parties on the essentials of law and order policy. They all argue that the solution is more police and more severe punishments. But this simplistic approach fails to do anything about the social deprivation, inequality and alienation that cause so much crime.

None of the established parties face up to the need to reverse a quarter of a century of economic and social policies which have broken up communities and weakened the bonds of social solidarity. The free market policies supported by the three traditional parties have produced entrenched deprivation side by side with great wealth.

These are the real “causes of crime”, but New Labour has not been nearly so “tough” on them as it promised to be.

The Home Office, which is responsible for law and order, has had the biggest percentage increase in funding of any Government department since 1997. By 2008 there will be at least 40,000 more police and community support officers than when Labour came to power.

Yet these steps do not lead to people feeling any safer or better about crime. England and Wales are the prison capital of the European Union with a record average incarceration rate of 141 people per 100,000 of the population. This outstrips the likes of Libya, Burma, Malaysia and Turkey.

Our courts are far more punitive than our closest European neighbours. France jails 93 people per 100,000 and Germany 98 per 100,000. Billions have been spent on police numbers and prisons, but none of this has made people feel safer or built more confident communities.

A new strategy is needed – one that does not repeat the failures of New Labour or the Tories.

Starved by government cuts of the human and financial resources to rebuild new and supportive communities, and tackle social exclusion, the situation in the most deprived areas has changed little in the years that New Labour has been in power.

Many people are still left feeling vulnerable to criminal activity. A huge amount of crime is linked to drugs. The only way to reduce the number of drug-related crimes is to treat the source of the problem, addiction, and to help those addicted to drugs off drugs and into a better life – not into prison.

Much more is need to rehabilitate drug offenders. Drug abuse needs to be treated as primarily a medical issue, as it was in Britain before 1971, when policy was changed and drug addiction then soared.

Respect will deal with crime by building strong communities, expanding youth facilities and improving public safety through measures such as employing more concierges on housing estates, investing in better street lighting, employing more staff on railway stations and in public parks.

Instead of spending billions on yet more police and more community support officers Respect would invest in community and youth workers and develop community strategies that will bring communities together on the basis of new hopes rather than the usual fears peddled by new Labour and the Tories.

RESPECT CALLS FOR:

> A serious attack on the causes of crime.

> Build supportive communities and tackle social exclusion.

> More resources for drug treatment and rehabilitation.
 

News and articles of interest

Here are some articles and news reports we think are worth looking at

From Triumph to Torture by John Pilger
Two weeks ago, I presented a young Palestinian, Mohammed Omer, with the 2008 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. Awarded in memory of the great US war correspondent, the prize goes to journalists who expose establishment propaganda, or "official drivel", as Gellhorn called it.

SATs school tests criticised by official report by Harvey Thompson and Linda Slattery
In May, millions of school children throughout England undertook their Standard Assessment Tasks (SATs) in English, mathematics and science. The statutory tests are widely considered to be flawed and almost universally reviled by teachers and children alike.

Health: Who asked for choice? - Morning Star
IF Health Minister Ben Bradshaw believes that there is political capital to be made by taking on our NHS doctors, he will quickly come unstuck.

Afghanistan troop deaths outnumber those in Iraq by Angela Balakrishnan and agencies
Militants in Afghanistan killed more US and Nato troops than those in Iraq in June after a fresh spate of rebel attacks that highlighted the growing strength of the Taliban.

Iran legally entitled to develop nuclear energy, says UK MP
Iran is legally entitled to develop nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty, according to a British MP visiting Tehran for the first time. George Galloway, who was expelled from Britain's ruling Labor Party for his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war, also criticized the hypocrisy of Israel's belligerence towards Iran, which has its own illegal stockpile of nuclear weapons.

In the Cause of Fear and Ignorance by John Pilger
Muslims are alone as they watch the British state, with its "obstinate incomprehension" of their faith, do to them as it would never do to those of other faiths. Imagine Jews treated this way. You cannot imagine it; the profanity is too great. The silence of British Jews, who have the history, is also great.

Migrant Myths by Adam Ford
As part of her degree course, Kurdish migrant Filiz Celik researched the conditions that workers from overseas face in the United Kingdom. The full text of her study can be read here, but this summary by Adam Ford gives some idea of the reality behind the media-generated myths.

Tesco shareholders reject TV chef's chicken welfare call
Tesco shareholders today voted against a resolution from TV cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall which called for the retail giant to improve its chicken-rearing standards.

Academies expelled 10,000 pupils
Academies have been accused of excluding disproportionately high numbers of students after it emerged that they excluded nearly 10,000 pupils for poor behaviour last year.

Let companies run state schools for profit, says Sir Simon Milton
Private companies should be allowed to run state schools at a profit and be free to dismiss teachers who are not up to the job, the head of the Local Government Association (LGA) said yesterday.

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