i'm not arguing with you, just the general "hang em and flog em" mentality on this thread
the solution? mmm.. well thats the $64,000 question. it's not easy. and it's not going to happpen overnight. thats why politicans prefer "quick" "popular" fixes which make them appear "tough on crime" for the duration of their term in office. but the underlying causes still exist
some solutions maybe:
- a less "me me me" consumerist society (a tough one!)
- curbing the UK's habit of binge-drinking
- more discipline in the home/school
- parents taking more resposibility
- dont have kids unless you can provide a stable family environment to them and can afford to raise them
- more things for kids to do (ie not hanging around)
- more exercise for young people, less TV/video games
- curbing the increased sexualisation of society (adverts, tv, magazines etc)
- increased access to decent housing, healthcare, job opportunites, re-training for poorer areas (look at the ex-mining pit towns, once prowd communities decimated by the loss of the coal industry, no hope for the young generation, increased drug/alcohol abuse)
- less teenage pregnancies. young women need to validate their lives in other ways, they need hope and opportunity
- we need to build more "communities", ie not towns where everyone drives to Tesco, commutes 50 miles to their job, watches big brother, yet doesnt know their neighbors name
- we need to find a way to make society less polarised between the haves and the have-nots. go to most towns in the UK and you will find huge £300,000 houses within a few miles of crappy sink estates