BBC News Magazine yesterday put forward some
arguments to explain the riots across the cities in the UK. Among the theories
to understand the causes of the riots, the concept of " welfare
dependence" presented an interesting discussion.
Sir Max Hastings, in the Daily Mail, stated that the riots were the
consequence of absolute freedom. He considered the looters as a
"deadweight upon society" and noted the fact that there is "no
code of values to dissuade them from behaving anti-socially or criminally"
and that there was a "small chance of being punished if they do
so".
Also in BBC News Magazine is the opinion of David
Wilson, professor of Criminology at Birmingham City University, that it is not
just about the underclass but permeates all levels of the society.
It would thus be clear that absolute freedom is
the germ of the insecurity in a society. This incident recalls Machiavelli's
idea from his famous work Discourses on Livy in the fifteenth century
that "all men are bad, and that they always have to use the malignity of
their spirit whenever they have a free opportunity for it" (Machiavelli, 1996). Machiavelli considers law
as the foundation of citizens' liberty and he states that the best government
would secure the rule of law and the common good (Viroli, 1998, p. 123).
Should the law be enhanced?
Back to the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron at
Parliament yesterday stated that the police tactics had not been worked as
there were "far too few police on the streets". Among a
range of measures to help those being affected by the riots, Cameron suggested
the followings:
- it is right to stop people communicating via
social media when they are known to be plotting violence, disorder and
criminality
- wider powers of curfew and dispersal orders
were needed
- New powers should be given to police to order
people to remove face-masks where criminality is suspected
- Courts should be given tougher sentencing
powers
Source: BBC
This means that the UK criminal law should be
enhanced and made stricter.
I believe that while social institutions are
necessary to educate citizens, laws based on the principles of justice ensure
that all the components of the structure of a society would run well. These
solutions would thus be appropriate.
Interestingly, this incident could be a
reference for what is happening in Norway's judiciary in relation to the recent
massacre.
References
Machiavelli, N. (1996). Discourses on Livy (H. C. Mansfield &
N. Tarcov, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Thanks for the post :) I've learnt a lot more about the UK riots. Also like Sir Max Hastings's profound article, especially when he recalls John Stuart Mill's idea on liberty: ‘The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited; he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.’
ReplyDeleteThanks mate, I like realism as it brings me strong ideas to identify the human nature of the journalist, and myself :D. You would see in the next post :p
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