(UK)Violence by strangers 'increases'

[Geezah]

The proportion of violent crimes committed by strangers has increased, according to Home Office research.

British Crime Survey figures show 47% of victims in 2003-04 did not know their attacker - a 2% increase on the previous year and up 15% on 1996.

It added 50% of violent attackers had been drinking, up by 10% since 1996.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said it showed 24-hour licensing plans were "madness". But the government said it would encourage "sensible drinking".

In violent crime overall, 23% of victims were attacked by a slight or casual acquaintance, compared with 30% by someone they knew well.

Disorderly behaviour

Meanwhile, the rise in the proportion of drunken violent crimes marked an increase of 6% on the previous year.

In 1996, just 40% were under the influence of alcohol.

The proportion of violent attacks committed by a drunken stranger was 62%, compared with 55% in 1996.

The findings come as a separate study - the Offending, Crime and Justice Survey - revealed that 44% of 18 to 24-year-olds got very drunk at least once a month, and were responsible for a disproportionate number of crimes.

The study also suggested that young male binge drinkers were more than twice as likely to commit a violent offence, at 16%, than other young male drinkers - 7%.

It concluded: "The more often an individual drinks to intoxication the greater the risk of becoming involved in criminal and disorderly behaviour."

'Madness'

The British Crime Survey findings prompted Shadow Home Secretary David Davis to ask: "What on earth is the government doing?

"In the face of these figures, its policy of 24-hour drinking is nothing short of madness."

But a spokeswoman for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, said the changes would introduce a "sensible drinking" culture and cut down on "binge and aggressive drinking" in the process.

She said: "The Licensing Act is not about 24-hour drinking. It is about introducing flexible drinking to get away from fixed closing times, which contribute to alcohol-related violence."

AHome Office spokeswoman said: "The government recognises that alcohol related violence is too high, this is why we have introduced the provisions in the Violent Crime Reduction Bill... to help support the police and local authorities in tackling alcohol related crime and disorder.

She added the police have also found Fixed Penalty Notices "particularly effective in tackling alcohol related crime and disorder in town and city centres."

The survey also showed 19% of attackers had been using drugs, a 1% fall compared to the previous year.


Link (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4638269.stm)

Not exactly positive is it, when violent crime is on the increase :(

[BigBaribal]

Mechanical phenomenon and which in addition was perfectly foreseeable. It is enough from now on to await the frangible joint while preparing the actions which will be necessary in such a situation. What a waste, a sophisticate society like the European one which will be force to get back to archaism to simply have a chance to survive. But if we must go through this, we'll go through this.

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

So I might be attacked by a violent stranger oh well thats not so bad then, for it sure would be bummer if it was someone you knew that kicked your c*nt in.

[Geezah]

I seem to remember sitting in Hammersmith hospotal all night because two aqaintances I knew had a fight. I will call them A and B, well about every month A would beat the living crap out of B because B would say something that A didn't like. I got to witness one of these fights, which really couldn't be called a fight, anyway B had his eye split open to the bone and we(another mate and a bird) sat in Hammersmith for about 6hrs.
During that time a guy was brought in that someone had tried unsuccesfully to transplant a baseball bat into his head, he collapsed in the street and another that had been cut in half on train tracks. This was the Summer of 96, what fun we had.

[fremen]

What kind of a world are we headed for? Oh, the madness of it all! Imagine a world were people can no longer trust that they will be attacked by their own loving relatives, friends and neighbors, but instead are attacked by total and complete strangers! If they would just have the courtesy of introducing themselves before attacking you, things would be so much better. Oh the humanity. :roll:

[Geezah]

What kind of a world are we headed for? Oh, the madness of it all! Imagine a world were people can no longer trust that they will be attacked by their own loving relatives, friends and neighbors, but instead are attacked by total and complete strangers! If they would just have the courtesy of introducing themselves before attacking you, things would be so much better. Oh the humanity. :roll:

I guess you didn't understand the information that's being provided.

Basically it's telling you that violent crime is on the rise, hopefully you can comprehend that.

[BigBaribal]

Nobody seems to remember the Enoch Powell's speech "rivers of blood"? The guy was simply right forty years ago and of course he was politically crucified.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood


Rivers of Blood speech
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from Rivers of Blood)

On April 20, 1968, the British politician Enoch Powell made a controversial speech in Birmingham to the annual meeting of the West Midlands Conservative Political Centre, in which he warned his audience of what he believed would be the consequences of continued immigration from the Commonwealth to Britain. In conclusion, he said:

Here is the means of showing that the immigrant communities can organize to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest with the legal weapons which the ignorant and the ill-informed have provided. As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood’. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now. Whether there will be the public will to demand and obtain that action, I do not know. All I know is that to see, and not to speak, would be the great betrayal.

Because of its allusion to Virgil saying that the Tiber would foam with blood, Powell's warning became known as the Rivers of Blood speech.

The next day, the Leader of the Opposition Edward Heath sacked Powell from his Shadow Cabinet. Powell never held another senior political post.

The speech was followed by strikes, in particular in London's docklands, both in support and in opposition. Powell gained considerable support from the public, receiving over 100,000 letters and was supported by MPs such as Sir Gerald Nabarro. Some supportive commentators attributed the surprise 1970 election victory by Edward Heath on the swing in Powell's West Midlands heartland, while other more hostile commentators have said that this speech alienated many immigrants from the Conservative Party.

Even today, the speech remains the subject of much argument and controversy, all the more so because Powell was highly regarded as one of Britain's most gifted politicians, albeit a maverick. Many since the speech have instantly - and understandably - labelled his views as racist, and condemned them as such; others have interpreted the speech not as a fear over race, but as a fear that the clash of cultures would be too much for Britain's social infrastructure (a view that the events of the Brixton, Toxteth and Handsworth riots in the 1980s suggest were not entirely wrong).