crime

Ahmed Rezkallah executioner

Islam online tells us that:
Among the possible recreational activities Saudis do to pass time on the weekend is to join several hundred other excited people and watch someone's head being chopped off by an executioner wielding a curved sword more than a meter long. Iaqmet al-Had - executions of the law of God - is an almost weekly spectacle after Friday prayer in Saudi Arabia, and is a ceremonial occasion in the court of the main mosque or in a square in front of
the provincial governor's palace. Spectators throng feverishly to watch the whipping of an adulterer, the amputation of a thief's hand or the beheading of a murderer, a rapist or drug trafficker. Westerners watch anxiously trying to hide their cameras, waiting for the right moment to take pictures of something they can only see in Hollywood movies.

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Mr Cameron says knife crime is now a problem of "epidemic proportions" in the UK and that "Anyone caught carrying a knife without a good excuse should expect to be sent to prison." Yet, according to Home Office figures, almost three times as many people prosecuted for carrying a knife went to prison in 2006, compared with 1996 and the average sentence length has increased by almost a third over the same period. In addition murders involving knives and other sharp implements remain relatively stable. This is not to mention that there is no room in our jails.

Rogues gallery, Aynsley-Green
In today's Daily Mail Melanie Phillips is writing about the rise in the number of young people dying from stab wounds. She is understandably horrified by this sort of crime seemingly spiralling ever upwards with no sign of a fix in sight. But she gets really angry and again understandably so with the person she calls the 'children's tsar', Sir Al Aynsley-Green.

This is typical of her mood on Aynsley-Green -

"As if this epidemic of violence wasn't bad enough, we have to put up with the utterances of the Children's Commissioner, Sir Al Aynsley-Green.

According to this ridiculous figure, the stop-and-search powers being belatedly used by the police to curb such attacks might further antagonise young people.

Thorough borough map.
Well how amazing, an article in the Evening Standard, 29th April 2008, explains how a 24 hour approach to policing in one London Borough, Hammersmith and Fulham, has brought forth positive results. It seems that 31 extra officers have had a valuable impact on crime levels. The article carries the following quote from Greg Smith, Hammersmith and Fulham's cabinet member for crime and anti-social behaviour,

with force

Forced marriage should be an abhorrent crime but in New Britain it is a 'cultural problem' and treated 'sensitively' so that no-one is offended and no electoral votes are lost. It is claimed by New Labour that to make it a specific crime would only drive it underground ! This is a weird type of logic. As it seems pretty much underground at the moment.

The Metropolitan police have called for forced marriage to be made a criminal offence, suggesting a link between the practice and “honour” killings and arguing that it would make prosecutions easier. However, the government rejected this.