Years ago,I was one of the scum who stole bikes and cars and also breaking and entering houses,I was caught and did a stretch for it and when I came out the father of one of the bikers I stole from came round my house and give me a right good hiding,breaking my nose in the process.I couldn't believe it when he came to the hospital,I actually thought he was going to carry on where he left off,but he asked if he could sit down and went on to tell me how his son saved every penny he had to get the bike I'd nicked and was really upset as was his whole family,these were nice people.I'd never felt so pathetic in all my life and that bloke talking to me did more good than the nick to be honest,a BIG lesson learned.
There have been a number of schemes run for offenders that offer them the option of taking part in a rehabilitation programme that can shorten their sentence but both they and their victim(s) have to agree to take part. I saw a documentary years ago on one such scheme. They focused on young offenders and mainly low-level crime, house breaking, assault etc. Part of the programme included a number of sessions sitting down with their victim(s). Pretty much all the offenders said it was the hardest thing they had ever done.
It's called Restorative Justice and has been pretty impressive in reducing recidivism rates.Unfortunately it doesn't work well with the "Hang them and Flog Them", "Prison Works", "Short, Sharp Shock" mindset of people who think it's just a bunch of bleeding-heart liberals going easy on scum who need the criminality beaten out of them...
I am not so forgiving.....burglars are the lowest of the low, invading peoples "safe" place and the knock on effect of having your home invaded can last for months and even years.
With all due respect i think you might find that "hanging them" does the job pretty effectively.
I might have known it'd all be everyone else's fault
Quote from: darrsi on 27 April 2019, 07:20:09 amWith all due respect i think you might find that "hanging them" does the job pretty effectively.And whilst we're at it, let's start burning witches as well...
Quote from: YamFazFan on 27 April 2019, 09:08:48 amI might have known it'd all be everyone else's fault Of course. Because it's so much simpler to "know that", than actually consider the fact that it might be the result of the focced up system we live with.No, they're just criminal scum, the lowest of the low, they're not human, they're not nice people, they're not "us"...All the same old bullshit that has been spouted over the years and the desire to punish people that eventually led to the idea of the "Bloody Code" which was clearly so successful in preventing crime that we still do it to this day...
I'm glad it all worked out for you and to hear that the visit worked well for you is heartwarming and all very nice, but you are one in a million unfortunately in the fact that you had a wake up call that put you on the straight and narrow.I am not so forgiving.....burglars are the lowest of the low, invading peoples "safe" place and the knock on effect of having your home invaded can last for months and even years.
“I'd never felt so pathetic in all my life and that bloke talking to me did more good than the nick to be honest, a BIG lesson learned.”
For every one that's like coffee there's hundreds it would have made not jot of difference to. I know that from 30 odd years experience seeing the same faces returning to prison time after time. All the offending behaviour courses, education, work done by psychologists, doesn't appear to work it is undertaken by inmates in the main to gain early release or in the case of life sentence prisoners, release on life licence. I have no idea what can be done that hasn't already been tried several times over the years. I do have sympathy for the victims and the families of offenders but we all have to make choices most of us choose the right path and not to commit crime.
QuoteFor every one that's like coffee there's hundreds it would have made not jot of difference to. I know that from 30 odd years experience seeing the same faces returning to prison time after time. All the offending behaviour courses, education, work done by psychologists, doesn't appear to work it is undertaken by inmates in the main to gain early release or in the case of life sentence prisoners, release on life licence. I have no idea what can be done that hasn't already been tried several times over the years. I do have sympathy for the victims and the families of offenders but we all have to make choices most of us choose the right path and not to commit crime. Did the offending behaviour courses, education and psychology involve the offender sitting down for a series of face to face sessions with their victim? The schemes that do this with young offenders were very effective indeed. Most did not re-offend.
You're making it all sound so fluffy and straightforward.Has it ever occurred to you that the victim might not want to sit down with someone who's just made their life a misery? In fact the very thought may actually horrify them.And as for "not re-offending", that could simply just mean they weren't stupid enough to get caught again.
Has it ever occurred to you that the victim might not want to sit down with someone who's just made their life a misery? In fact the very thought may actually horrify them.
So what's your solution to the hardened career criminals to whom it's a way of life and where nothing works to stop the offending?.
just to clear things up a bit ,I was 16, in fact I had my seventeenth birthday inside and I think because of my youth and a bit of a rough upbringing it made it easier for me to "reform" as it were.I think it would be a lot more difficult for a long term offender or a person who'd been robbing for years to turn himself around.I've always thought that was a turning point in my life,and a few years later meeting and marrying my wonderful wife,I think most of us if we look back in our files will remember certain things that helped us get through rough times.