General Article It’ll take more than bobbies on the beat to restore order to lawless Britain

Topic Selected: Crime and Justice Book Volume: 366
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By Rory Geoghegan, Head of Criminal Justice, The Centre for Social Justice.

Leaving the EU is the number one issue for voters, but crime has proven itself capable of being the number two issue this year – and the next Prime Minister must have a bold plan to tackle it. The rise of crime as a political issue speaks to the undeniable rises in knife crime, serious youth violence, and related violence and thuggery – but it also speaks to the virtual demise of proactive crimefighting across large swathes of the country.

The failure to provide adequate resources for this fight exacts a huge price on the poorest communities. Just imagine trying to bring up your kids on a housing estate where criminality and illegal drug use is obvious, explicit and expected.

The addition of 20,000 police officers – as offered by the likely next Prime Minister Boris Johnson – is a welcome step provided he can successfully set them free to fight crime.

However, turning around the rest of our failing criminal ...

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