The decline of Religious influence and the increase of Police

[Francis king]

well, I have some tales to tell u, following on from what's been said on this thread, and forgive me for jumping in at such a late stage, but I couldnt help myself...

borstal... my dad was put into a borstal, before "proper" borstals where invented, run by the christian brothers, when he was 9 years old. It was 1948, he lived in a city which had been smashed by the germans, and his father was a docker with no work and his mother would shoplift to bring food into the house. They went to church every sunday. My dad got "nicked" for stealing wood from a woodyard, and ended up in juvenile detention, where he was repeatedly raped and beaten by priests. When he was 11 years old, he passed his eleven plus with flying colours and he wanted to go to a good school, but his parents would not let him go because they wanted him at home bringing money in. Because of where he was at in space and time, he eventually ended back in borstal, this time in a place run by the prison service. Lads still got beaten and molested. Ten years later, after he had been through the system and given the best criminal education you could get he was performing armed robberies with guns dressed in a crombie and a shiny suit... so, that was the situation in 1948-1958...

In 1988, my friend and his twin brother stay away from school, one glorious summer, and they decide not to go back the next year... eventually the school board find out, and they both end up in the local juvenile detention centre. Rather than get molested by paedophiles, as some of the other boys did, the two brothers and two others escape one night, and they steal a car. The police chase them, the car crashes, and one of the boys dies. My friend, who was brought up a catholic and who's mother went to church every sunday, can remember how his dead friend's blood dripped onto his trousers, still to this day.

Society created both of these ppl, and all it taught them was to hate authority, priests, social workers and coppers. Both men, as adults, where insightful enough to realise they'd been treated badly by the system, but neither of them where mature enough at the time to rise above it... stealing wood and staying off school is not enough reason to detain children, not in my book. Harking back to the good old days when nobody talked about child rapists and pretended everything was nice is a waste of time. There have always been criminals, and there has always been the class divide, except now there are more poor ppl who want what u have, and they will take it too, if u allow them to.

What is it about really? Is it about the decline of the church? I dont think it is, as although many ppl have turned away from the church they have not turned away from feeling "spiritual".

In my humble opinion, its about class, and its about enforcing ur morality on ppl who do not live by ur rules because they do not inhabit ur world.

as wil said "Crime has a lot of reasons, population density, disposable income, class and income disparity",

Why is there so much crime? Because there is so much want. Why is there so much want? Because ppl are fed ideals 24/7 via MTV, being a gangster in the hood and fighting for a few crumbs is seen as preferable than being the villiage tramp. Who wants to be trailer trash? Who wants to consider themselves the underclass? Who doesn't want a little bit more? Instead of condemning criminals, we should instead maybe admire their drive. After all, its society that fosters their criminality, by glorifying gangsterism, by tolerating violence, and by placing so much emphasis on wealth while allowing such income disparity...

So, perhaps the moral to the tale is; if you treat ppl like animals, and u keep them in bad conditions, don't be suprised when they escape or bite u...

cheerio

[flowperson]

Francis :

I admire your insight and candor. The stories that you tell are so familiar to many of us. Thank you very much.

flow....