New - A book review

Something I have not done here previously. A book review. Well, more of a recommendation – a strong recommendation at that – that this book should be obtained and read. I've even found a web site where you can see which library may have it even though it is well worth the tenner that Amazon UK are selling it for as used stock.
The book is “A Brief History of Crime. The decline of Order, Justice and Liberty in England” by Peter Hitchens and published by Atlantic Books, London, in 2003 with an ISBN number I 84354 148 3. His stated intention in the publication is to show that much of the modern debate about crime and punishment is based upon mistaken beliefs, misunderstood or massaged figures and cheap slogans.
It does not make comforting reading for either main political party but certainly challenges their positions on the subject. He is concerned that the current approach to law and order is threatening personal freedoms of the lab-abiding majority whilst still failing to control crime. Society can only escape this downward spiral if it clearly and decisively punishes wicked actions and concentrates on preventing crime and disorder rather than attempt detection at a later stage. He is certain that the country needs to choose between the supposed human rights of wrongdoers and the liberty of all.
Along the way he examines the changing role of police, prison life, gun control, drugs and the jury system. In summation, I have to use his own words – at my peril without permission but with no evil intent. He writes in his summation,

“I have sought to explain in this book what appears to be the driving force of the new law. It is based, like the other changes that have overturned English life since 1960, on the new secular religion of the educated elite. Socialist and collectivist in origin, it worships the welfare state. It believes neither in absolute truth nor in absolute right and wrong. It demands special protection
for cultures and lifestyles that consciously and deliberately undermine the morality and beliefs of the older generation. It uses the grievances of activists within racial and sexual minorities as the pretext for general change. It rejects the whole idea of punishment and affects to believe in rehabilitation
while failing to pursue this objective with any real consistency”

It goes much further than I have dared to reproduce here.
In the words of the Chancellor “I commend this ...” Anyone who presumes to express any public opinion as to the state of the country should read this first. I do not see it as a universal panacea – some sections need further corroboration in the light of events since the book was published. What it does do, and its value lies in this, is cause one to think. Maybe thoughts that otherwise would not occur. If I could afford it, I'd give you all a tenner to buy it. Try bothering your local library.