Repercussions for Rioters

The British are facing horrendous riots at the hands of opportunists who are piggybacking their desire to steal goods on the outrage of those protesting actions by the London Metro Police. Businesses have been stripped of their wares, and nearly entire blocks of businesses have burned to the ground for no other reason than thieves want the things for sale in the shops. Gangs - a perennial problem in London - have emerged as a major problem in the looting. The British police have responded in good order.

They have asked for help from America (the British government, not the looters); they'd like to know how we handle these things. But it seems to me that they're doing a mighty good job on their own, even better than us. Here in America we have problems from gangs that defy solution, yet the British seem to have come up with one approach that will at least cramp the gangs' style: eviction.

The Brits are arresting everyone with even a suspicion of looting. And now they're developing a series of repercussions that will punish those - and their families, if the looters are found to be minors - convicted of rioting. The first step is to remove them from public housing, and it seems the next step will be to also evict them from private housing, causing them to move elsewhere. The thinking seems to be that if individuals are found to be involved in gang-related activity, then breaking them up and forcing them to move to other locales might disrupt the gang activity too. It's a plausible scenario; make it tougher for the gangs to assemble, and you make it tougher for them to do their gang-related crap.

I sure wish lawmakers in the US had this sense of social duty. But in America we have too many rights - for example, "rights" to public housing, etc, and the politicians and lawmakers here would never have the fortitude (AKA, balls) to take such action. Such is a pity, to cater to the lowest class in favor of the voter. And the voters here seem to know no difference.


BBC News - David Cameron back councils planning to evict rioters: