Is it just my imagination or…….

has anyone else noticed that there seems to be an awful lot of violent crime being reported at the moment? both with cases coming to court and in crimes actually being committed.

This will only be a short post and not a particular moan jsut drawing attention to something I have observed, with some comment.

On 2 separate occasions in the past couple of weeks, we have seen areas cordoned off by the police and the forensics team do their stuff, one was for a body found on the banks of the river and I never did find out what the second was about but it was at the very bottom of Fosterhill Road last weekend.

Now, we don’t make a habit of seeking out the scenes of violent crime, indeed the opposite if anything, so it is purely coincidence that we have seen both of these incidence and just the fact that we have seen them both isn’t evidence of a more violent society but pretty much every day at the moment we are hearing, in the news, about people who have committed violent crimes, including obviously the shocking story that has been top of the news for the past few days where the 2 brothers, aged 10 & 11, committed unimaginable acts of violence and, well lets not get into the details, against 2 other children of a similar age.

There have been a number of cases where parents have neglected and abused their children, and so the list goes on.

Obviously what I am noticing is an increase in these incidents being reported in the media, which does not mean there has been an increase in such crimes just that there are more of them being reported, so has there been a real increase in violent crime or not? Well I guess that your answer to that will depend upon which political colours you fly as much as anything, I am not sure but my feeling is that there has been an increase, but I can’t base that on anything concrete.

I am not going to say anything else at the moment, just want to throw a question out, for which there are no easy answers,but I want to initiate discussion, and possibly debate, lets see if it works!

Most of us, as individuals, want to live in a peaceful society in a society where there is no violence, where we all care for and look out for each other and where we don’t need to fear abuse, especially we want to live in a society where the most vulnerable can live their lives being protected and free from abuse.

So, the question, how do we get this kind of society? how does 21st Century Britain establish something of a decent society where this sort of crime is not tolerated and in fact where we see the levels of crime fall to such a level that it becomes a shock and surprise when these get reported. how do we get some real morals and decency into 21st Century Britain?

You will notice that I dont say a return to these values, this is because I am not starting from a position of assuming there ever was a time when these ideals were meet, I am not convinced it ever was that great, just that abuse in particular, was more hidden and not talked about. Certainly when you look at the Victorian Era there was a huge amount of injustice going on and I for one wouldn’t want a return to Vitorian Britan.

On the other hand, of cours,e you might totalyl disagree with my assumptions that we are a violent society, in which casem, your point of view is also welcome.

So, its over to you guys to say what you think, any answer will get published, as long as it doesn’t include swearing or isn’t an attack on any individuals or sectors of society, I have my own views but want to hear what other people think. [houdini]