Riots

I thought it was time for me to write a blog about the recent riots around the country. There is a huge amount of anger over the riots and I share that anger. I have personally seen first hand the results of what happens when things kick off and there is violent disorder. I very much believe in peoples rights and personally think the human rights act is a great law.  

Before anyone starts on me about being soft I am not.  I was personally calling for the police to use stronger tactics on rioters such as batons, dogs, water cannons and bringing in the army to restore order. If you are out causing destruction, wrecking peoples lives and generally being a complete idiot then as far as I am concerned you deserve to be on the business end of a police baton and I sincerely hope it hurts. You don’t deserve sympathy and you certainly won’t be getting any from me.

So the police do the deed and get the streets under control with my full support. We still have a huge amount of anger and the public making demands as to what should happen to these people. Not everyone rioting was someone on benefits, this is a cold hard fact. Justice needs to be swift, hard and importantly equal. There isn’t any excuse for rioting and in every single case regardless of the charge this is an aggravating factor which means any sentence will be increased to reflect this.  It is also a fact that if a person goes to prison and they are on benefits then they will loose them. Courts have to the power to take money out of benefits as they do with the wages of people who work.

I agree that people caught rioting should be punished and more importantly should pay for the damage they cause. I want these people to suffer for their crimes, they deserve to be punished and not one single person involved in the riots and civil unrest will get any sympathy from me. Do not under estimate just how much I hate these people!

Bearing in mind what I have just said am going to say something now which may surprise you.  I do not think it would be right to permanently stop peoples benefits, I am also not sure that evicting people from social housing will solve anything.  I genuinely think it would take a half decent solicitor about two minutes to get a court to reverse a government decision on permanently removing the benefits of a person convicted of a crime during the riots.  I could be wrong but I believe the solicitor would use the human rights act.

Now moving onto evicting people from social housing. I believe this would send a very strong message to stop people committing crimes in future, great fantastic!  However people are normally in social housing for a reason.  If a person is made homeless then the council has a legal obligation to house them. So throwing people onto the streets is a mute point if the council then has to re home them.

What I am about to suggest is in addition to any fine, prison sentence or community order.  We should make the criminal pay the value of the damage they cause.  For example someone damages a property causing £2500 worth of damage, then then steal £1000 worth of goods.  So in addition to any other punishment they have to pay back £3500.  We then take a certain amount out of the persons benefits/wages each week or month until every single penny is paid back.

If the crime also involves an attack on the person then the court puts a compensation value on the injuries such as £10 000. So in addition to any other punishment they have to pay back £10000 at a weekly/monthly rate until every single penny is paid back.  If a person gets a job then it comes out of their wages, likewise if they loose their jobs then the benefits get reduced.

There should be bailiffs with the power to force entry into property to recover goods if people do not pay. Likewise the bailiffs should have the power to refer people back to the courts for increased punishments if necessary.  If after this process has been exhausted then and only then should we completely stop peoples benefits, this should only be until the outstanding amount has been paid.  There should be measure in place to prevent people from going bankrupt to avoid paying the money back

fine/community service/prison + paying back the total value of the damage caused would really mean that the punishment fits the crime and everyone regardless of financial position pays the cost of their crimes.