I can only tell you that from reading the papers, it seems like crime has gone from petty to serious and often deadly, as drug use and abuse has risen. Whether there is cause and effect there, I cannot say, but simply decriminalizing crime is akin to sticking one’s head in the sand.I am not sure if the statistics back up your observations of the UK being any more dangerous than before, although that would depend on when before is of course. Can't find the stats for Manchester specifically, but for England and Wales, generally there has been, over the past few years a very small increase in violent and sexual crimes, but both remain at a level around the same as the early 1980s and way below the historic highs recorded in the late 1990's. Since the turn of the millenium, violent and sexual crimes have fallen gradually down from those peaks, although like i said there have been small increases in the past 2 - 3 years.
The point being, there is no crime epidemic (in the UK, again i don't have stats for Manc specifically), the media however are for some reason pushing an agenda that it is worse now than at any time before, this of course negatively impacts on peoples perceptions.
Drugs and drug use will continue to rise until the politicians realise that the failed war on drugs is unwinnable and they start to a realise that decriminalisation is the only logical route.
More BM bollocks to suit a narrative.When ever I see armed police in the UK couple of things always make me chuckle .
It's always the person wearing glasses that has the gun .
It's always the short one or the rotund one or usually a combination of both that has the gun .
It's always the one that you think how the hell are they a police officer that has the gun .
It's almost as if giving them a gun makes up for their shortcomings !!!
I currently work in many such areas.I've also served alongside armed Police officers.Fantasyireland you think ? Next time you are at an airport or public transport area that routinely has armed police, just have a look you will see what I mean !
I can only tell you that from reading the papers, it seems like crime has gone from petty to serious and often deadly, as drug use and abuse has risen. Whether there is cause and effect there, I cannot say, but simply decriminalizing crime is akin to sticking one’s head in the sand.
Decriminalization doesn’t make it safe, it only swells the tax coffers, which tells us where society is today!
Think the general problem is the data sets that are available are inconsistent and flawed. If you look at the ONS website ...
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...still-rising-while-firearms-offences-decrease
It identifies various issues with underreporting and incorrect classification of offences in particular those involving knives and sharp objects. It’s reasonably well known that victims of violent crime don’t report it for fear of reprisals in some areas. Additionally when the statistics are recorded they are based upon outcomes, so what people are convicted of which may be very different from that experienced by the victims, offences often being downgraded as it is very hard to make attempted murder and similar charges stick in a court of law.
I do however agree with you that the media and press have overinflated the level of crime and there isn’t an epidemic per se. The worrying thing is not that it necessarily makes the general public more worried but rather it normalises certain crimes e.g. knife crime, leading to more people who are on the fringes of society seeing it as being more acceptable.
reported violent crime is down ,but that doesn't prove if it is actually down or are less people reporting it due to a lack of action?
Ah, that probably is more accurate. I was just trying to say that crime, especially less serious, does not always get reported due to the lack of action taken when reporting itI was using the crime survey of England and Wales as a base as it does not rely on reported figures, and looks to go beyond that, although i happily admit that it will still have its flaws.
Well said. History will look back on the continuation of the War on Drugs as one of the most flawed and inherently stupid policies ever.Can i respectfully suggest then that you stop reading papers as they are filling your head with lies.
You call decrimilisation sticking ones head in the sand. The alternative is to continue with the current "war on drugs" approach, an approach that has, over the past 30 years clearly failed as drug abuse has continued to rise. I would suggest that carrying on with a proven failed policy is more akin to sticking one's head in the sand than looking at trying something different. The war on drugs has had three decades and more, how close are they to winning it. Prohibition doesn't work, it only makes using more dangerous.
Decrimilisation does make it safer, that is exactly what it does, it means that people buying drugs can know how much they are taking and take it much more safely. The decrimilisation (and the wider societal appraoch to drug use) has seen dramatic drops in problematic drug use, HIV and hepatitis infection rates, overdose deaths, drug-related crime and incarceration rates. Decrimilisation does make it safer, fact.
You are perhaps correct when you say that increased (illegal) drug abuse and an increase in crime are connected. But the important point is the illegality of it. If an addict can go and seek medical treatment for drug addiction without fear of prosecution then they don't have to rob or steal or get involved in other illegal activity.