E11: What do you consider to be effective means of keeping law and order in today's society?

Essay topic: What do you consider to be effective means of keeping law and order in today's society?

Obviously the practical means of doing so lies in the hands of the police force, para-military anti-riot forces, and, in the last resort, the armed forces themselves. In democratic countries, these are firmly under the control of civilian governments, the members of which are freely elected.

Governments legislate and judiciaries administer the law. However, the degree of control over the individual and the nature of the sanctions to be applied depend partly on the traditions of the country concerned and partly on the seriousness of the law and order problems which the country faces.

What are today's problems? Political protest, leading to strikes, street demonstrations, physical violence, use of arms and weapons, mob violence and vandalism, looting, and in extreme cases, civil war. Football violence, such as has recently excluded England from matches in Europe. Crime against the person and against property e.g. murder, rape, theft, burglary and vandalism. These evils spread from country to country by imitation through international media publicity. Paradoxically, they also spread when law and order sanctions are either tightened or relaxed. This dilemma faces Mr. Gorbachev precisely because of glasnost and perestroika, particularly insofar as political unrest spreads through the Soviets and Russia's satellite neighbors.

So the distinction between personal and political motivation behind lawlessness must be made. Where the motivation is personal, i.e. based in natural violence, social resentment due perhaps to deprivation, greed, sexual amorality, hatred or drug-induced mental states, then sanctions must be toughened as required. There are arguments for and against the death penalty, but there is little doubt that it provides an effective deterrent. There are arguments against physical punishments, but they also deter. English law provides severer penalties for offences against property than against the person. In view of the muggings, street and public transport violence experienced today, this must be reversed.

The modish, liberal explanation of the increase of such crime is that society rejects the poor and underprivileged. Rebuild slum areas and offer more government handouts and crime would disappear . This is nonsense. What is society but a collection of individuals? Every individual is endowed with personal choice...
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