Orders of the Day — Crime

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 7 November 1977.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Graham Page Mr Graham Page , Crosby 12:00, 7 November 1977

The hon. Member for West Lothian (Mr. Dalyell) has done a good service to his constituency, as he frequently does, and has given a good service to the House in bringing forward the case that he mentioned. However, he will forgive me if I turn to more general matters in the context of this general debate on the prevention of crime.

Although we have debated crime prevention on several occasions in the last year or two, I feel that, generally speaking, the House is far too complacent about the violent crime explosion which has burst on the nation. We certainly appear to be more complacent in the House aout these matters than are the public in general.

Crimes of violence have more than trebled in the last 10 years. Last year, crimes of violence to people increased 10 times as much as the increase in other crime, and crimes of damage to property increased nearly 20 times as much. We in this country have a record number of crimes, a record number of prisoners, a record number of prosecutions awaiting trial, and a record number of crimes which have been reported but not cleared up. An eminent criminologist has said that for every crime punished five crimes go undetected. All this is not due to any increase in population. We know that 20 years ago the number of indictable offences per 100,000 of the population was about 1,000, and it has now risen to over 4,000.

Governments have endeavoured to deal with the situation by what I would call the offender-oriented approach, namely, that one should recognise the type of offender, be he an amateur, such as most shoplifters or a professional criminal, and tailor the sentence to the needs of that offender. In too many cases the result of that kind of approach in terms of punishment is that the matter is settled by the social worker or the psychiatrist or even the administrator—and one has in mind the Parole Board—rather than by the court before which the offender is brought. I believe that the trend has swung too far, and that the approach to violent crimes, particularly violence against the person, should be more victim and potential victim-oriented rather than offender-oriented.

To that end there should be much firmer sentences for crimes of violence, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Mr. Whitelaw) said earlier, and magistrates should be given powers to lock up offenders particularly young offenders, in "glasshouse "conditions. I am not referring to shaven heads, but to the short, sharp treatment and the disciplined control that one can give in that type of detention. I couple that with the use of the community work sentence under effective attendance centres.

At present too many offenders get off any of these punishments because we have not the prisons, detention centres or attendance centres to which offenders can be sent. The number of unpaid fines is a national scandal and probation is a reward rather than a punishment.

Let us forget for the moment murder and capital punishment and let us try to make sure—certainly the public wants us to make sure—that we have the appropriate punishment for the crime of brutally assaulting and maiming a fellow human being, a crime all too often committed just for the sadistic hell of it, and all too often committed, with the bully's cowardice, against old people. One wonders whether there is any punishment to fit that sort of crime.

It is a crime that is multiplying by reason of the shortage of police to protect the public—we know that this year there are now 700 fewer police officers than were operating in January—a crime that is multiplying because of the criminals' complete contempt for the punishment he may get, if caught. Let me take three or four recent examples from Liverpool. Stephen Sherlock, an 84-year-old legless cripple, attacked on his bed, hound and gagged, beaten about the head until his skull was fractured, knocked unconscious for several hours—and robbed of £2. Alice Mitchell, a widow of 78, beaten about the head, the face and hands with her own walking stick. She was a pianist, but her hands are now useless and she is a nervous wreck. Gladys Taylor, a widow of 74, attacked in the street, thrown to the ground and jumped on, now very lame and very nervous—robbed of 30p. Alfred Smith, an 87-year-old widower, held against a wall when he opened his front door, beaten about the head, a lacerated eye and now blind in that eye—robbed of nothing.

I have many other cases of this sort from the Liverpool area, and no doubt other hon. Members can give examples from their own constituencies, but the terrible thing is that, until a voluntary organisation called "Victims of Violence "discovered these people, no welfare worker or social worker had called on them. It seems to me that the resources of the social services are lavished, through probation and otherwise. on the criminal, but that the victim is a social Cinderella.

How is it that we have become a society that mollycoddles muggers and pharisaically passes by on the other side of the street to the victim? I despair of altering the attitude that now exists till we again legalise corporal punishment. As well as seeing that, at once, we gear the social services to meet the needs of the victims of violence, such as those I have described, let us restore the balance a little and bring back the birch for the muggers, the vandals and the holligans.