The cost of justice

Picture the scenario. An elderly lady is out shopping for a few groceries when she is mugged by an habitual criminal and her little money stolen to feed his drink and drug habit. The lady is clearly a victim and the perpetrator exhibits free will. Dismissing the notion that his addiction takes away his free will and therefore his culpability, how is justice to be found and at what cost?

We shall look at it from three perspectives; the crim’s. the lady’s and the tax payer’s the unwitting third party.

item	Perpetrator	Lady	Tax Payer	notes
mugging	+£10.52	-£10.52
Hospital		time	£2000
Police & trial			£3000	Police time & Legal aid
Victim of crime award		£200	£200
6 months. Serves 3	time	Never fully recovers	£10000
rehabiltation			£1000	In jail
probation	After serving sentence		£2000	ongoing
accommodation			£500 per month	hostel
dole			£800 per month?	unemployable

From the perpetrators perspective, he has lost his freedom for three months but during that time he’s been largely free from worries about eating, mortgage repayments etc. He’s been amongst his mates, entertained with sky sports etc, fed three times a day and warm. Hardly a deterrent; more an inducement to act with impunity, exercising his free will to commit crime.

The battered elderly lady, lives the remainder of her life in fear. Rarely goes out, knowing that her assailant will be back soon, posing a threat to her and others. Although she had no free will whatsoever, she suffers a life sentence of fear and despair at the injustice of it all.

Thirdly, the tax payer, who picks up the bill for all this. This single, almost trivial crime will have cost the innocent taxpayers £20,000 direct costs plus £2000 a month say in maintaining the criminal. The tax payer has no free will in this.

The notion of justice in the UK and other ‘enlightened’ Countries, is in my opinion misplaced. The cost of justice outlined above is prohibitive. I would suggest unsustainable but what can be done? Kill them all! Probably it is better that judges should declare that guilty people have lost their civil rights and be sentenced to prisons that allow for no association, no entertainments, no visits etc. Only education.

The idea that everyone deserves a second chance is like the concept of a backstop. Let it be known that there is no backstop; do not err on the side of criminality. Not once. This is the best way to keep the lid on the cost of ‘justice’.