The Government claims that crime is falling. Some crimes have fallen but the more serious crimes – assaults, murder and gun crime – are on the rise. Even if they had fallen it is clear that the “fear of crime” is higher now than it has ever been. Fear of crime is personal because even if you are not a victim of an offence being fearful of what might happen can make you a victim.
Some of the most worrying crimes we are now seeing are in the centre of our towns and cities. We must be tougher on businesses that serve alcohol and make them take more social responsibility for the behaviour of their customers outside their pub or club when they are the ones who have profitted from their drinking. We might even need to see fines soi big that they close down the businesses of those who serve alcohol in an irresponsible manner or those under-age.
At the same time, our Youth Service needs to focus on being relevant to young people today – they need to be challenged and they are not being engaged sufficiently by youth clubs and street based youth work. The voluntary sector and communities themselves are not being allowed to play a big enough role in this.
