The political insistence that fear of crime is still a big problem continues. This time Labour are at it.
In reality, of course, less than one in seven people say they are 'very worried' about crime (see Table 5.07 in this PDF), and this has been falling in recent years. While worry about crime can have quite negative implications for some of those who feel it (although for other people fear - more accurately, worry - can be 'functional', enabling them to get on with their lives in a positive way), to prioritize 'fear' as the basis of a policy in this way seems slightly perverse. For one thing, are we sure that more police on the streets automatically means less fear? Is all fear of crime really about crime, or do more diffuse anxieties about modern life, insecurity, and uncertainty play a role - and if they do, what can the police really do about it?
It's almost as if, despite the relatively low levels of worry about crime, and of course actual crime rates which continue to fall despite the recession, we (more correctly, politicians) have lost the ability to talk about the issue in any other way. If it's crime, it has to be fear, dread, worry, crisis. Or at least 'continued public concerns' which must be addressed, in this case by the magic pill of more 'bobbies on the beat'. As Chicken Yoghurt points out, such talk very naturally slips into calls for increased power for the police, the need for new databases - of DNA, of vehicle movements - to address a problem which, by almost every available measure, is getting better, not worse.
In an election year this ratcheting effect will only get worse, and the pressure toward ever more illiberal criminal justice policies seems almost inevitable. It'll be a very brave politician who sticks their head about the parapet to say, "hang on, have we really got such a big problem here?".
No comments:
Post a Comment