Wednesday, August 08, 2007



The usual knee-jerk

The government is planning to increase the sentence for "participation in organised criminal group" to ten years imprisonment. Because that'll so obviously work. To point out the obvious, what matters in calculations of deterrance is not the penalty, but the likelihood of receiving it. It would be far more effective if the police were to actually do their fucking job and prosecute gang members for what they actually do - assault, burglary, intimidation, and drug-dealing - rather than vague crimes of association.