Quote:
Originally Posted by Wynonie Harris
Yes, there was violence in the 60's, but not of the magnitude and severity that occurs today. Crimes of violence have risen and are continuing to rise. Knives and guns seem to be commonplace. You would see a punch-up on the dancefloor of the Con or on the bus station, but you would not hear of a man being kicked to death simply for remonstrating with youths who had vandalised his car.
The reason, it seems to me, is that you have a large number of people who have been allowed to do exactly what they like both in the home and at school (and I don't blame teachers for the latter - their hands seem to be tied now). Consequently, when somebody tries to stop them doing what they want, they react with the unreasoning fury of a spoilt infant - but unfortunately in the body of a grown adult with terrible consequences for those who cross their path.
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I'm not disagreeing with you and I think that discipline is a factor at home and at school. But I'm also trying to look at this from a different angle.
When I was growing up, I didn't live in a particularly rough area but there was one family that you didn't mess with on the estate. They ruled the estate by policing it and in a way, defending it. If a young kid stepped out of line they got a clip round the ear. But if someone from outside the estate came in and tried to cause trouble they sent them packing. The estate was actually a quiet, very peaceful estate because of it.
Now, increase that to the scale of large estates and inner cities and you have a 'gang/family' there that everyone was scared of and no one stepped out of line. Ironically, as the Police remove the self regulating gang/family then more thugs started to have a go.
So what has actually happened is that the Police have removed the self regulating force that existed on these estates, thus allowing violence to increase. They have actually removed the top of the pyramid but not got to the bottom of it.