Cressida Dick Met police chief commisioner
The head of the Met Police, Cressida Dick, has said young people don't see the law as a deterrent and floated the idea that maybe it's time to think about harsher sentences.


Comment: Cressida Dick, new chief of British police, oversaw 'botched' post-7/7 de Menezes operation


She said: "I and a number of my officers are seeing an increasing number of young people in London who are simply not fearful of how the state will respond to their actions.

"They don't see imprisonment as particularly likely or a serious threat and it does not in any sense deter them from criminal activity.


Comment: This is probably a gross misinterpretation of how young people feel towards the increasingly corrupt police force.

As UK society continues to crumble under the weight of corruption, responsible role models are in short supply and the opportunities for meaningful lives becomes more ever more limited, any chance of them breaking away from the influences surrounding them is increasingly less likely.

And when young people see the establishment getting off scot-free with every kind of criminal act - from tax fraud to pedophilia - is it any wonder they don't have respect for the law? On a daily basis they see how the law is never really applied to those wealthy enough to afford a team of lawyers and with sufficient status to pull the right strings.


"At what point does the state prioritise its duty to protect the public and ensure that young people could see the criminal justice system as something that will catch up with them?

"We are seeing these people returning to the same context, same friends and same - perhaps even more - destructive outlook on their lives.

"Do we yet again need to think about ... the incarceration of young people? Is it absolutely the right thing that we have sought to avoid putting young people in prison for all lower level offences?

"Do sentences need to be longer and more effective when used in relation to young people, no matter how hard that is for many of us to think about?"

The massive surge in gun and knife crime, especially in London, must at least partly be down to the fact these youngsters just don't respect or fear the law. Longer sentences and tougher punishments are urgently needed.


Comment: For some at least, violent crime such as that mentioned above is probably due to a reversion back to a primitive existence where gangs fight for territory because all they have left is their neighbourhood borders. This is nothing new though. What is new is the increasing division between the police and the people they are intended to be protecting. The police view towards the community is becoming similar to that of an invading army. And in that sense the UK is going the way of America.