More "Zany olde England"

It's been awhile since we've checked in on England's grand experiment in social engineering, in which the country has banned pretty much all tools and forms of self-defense by its law-abiding citizens, while at the same time coddling its criminals by finding ever-more creative ways to let them stay on the streets.

How's it working out for them? Here's one example.

In the town of Clitheroe, in Lancashire, a seventeen-year-old hoodlum, Kyle Ivison, has been solely responsible for a staggering 40 percent increase in the city's violent crime rate. In the past three years, this sociopath has committed over 120 violations, ranging from destroying tens of thousands of dollars of public and private property, to drug and alcohol offenses, to threatening and intimidating townspeople, to committing racial attacks on minorities, etcetera, etcetera.

Mr. Ivison seems to have escaped any punishment at all, until quite recently. He was finally hauled into criminal court after a June 29 incident in which his (nominal) father turned him in for trashing the family home. (Nice to see that the father has his priorities straight, waiting until he himself was affected before rousing himself enough to take action.)

Did the court finally throw the book at him? Well, you decide. He received something called an ASBO, or "Anti-Social Behavior Order" from the court, which is basically a civil order forbidding the person from participating in certain activities. The ASBO process has been under considerable fire in England, as it has been accused of both bypassing the criminal court system, allowing true lawbreakers to remain unpunished, while at the same time allowing "authorities" to abuse the process by criminalizing lawful but nuisance acts that don't reach the level of criminal activity, but that merely annoy someone in power. Here's some examples of the latter, from Wikipedia:

"Two teenage boys from east Manchester forbidden to wear one golf glove.

A 13-year-old forbidden to use the word "grass".

A 17-year-old forbidden to use his front door.

An 87-year-old man ordered not to shout, swear or make "sarcastic remarks to neighbours or their visitors".

In the centre of Manchester, a group of residents were calling for an ASBO against noisy builders on big construction sites.

In 2004 Sony Music and BMG were threatened with anti-social behaviour orders by Camden Borough Council for illegal flyposting.

Children playing games in Grove Place Estate in Hampstead could receive ASBOs."

You get the picture. Some local muckety-much in charge of something gets pissed, so perfectly lawful activity is then restricted. Meanwhile, true criminals somehow get the same sorts of orders, allowing them to remain free and unpunished, further emboldening them to commit even more crimes.

In Mr. Ivison's case, he has been ordered to:

"Not be in any public place between 10pm and 7am for the next six months.

He must not enter premises from which he has been excluded and must not remain in any premises having been asked to leave.

He is also banned from consuming or being in possession of any intoxicant or illegal drug in a public place or gathering in public with eight named individuals."

Well, that's showing him. I'm sure he'll see the error of his ways and shape up, now that he has been properly punished. More likely he'll just see his ASBO as just another badge of his "badness", and it will only encourage him further.

As far as I can tell, Ivison hasn't served one day in jail for his crimes. Sadly, this will probably change only when he finally graduates to felony assault or murder, when it will be too late for his poor victims, who will have been denied both the right to self-protection as well as the right to be protected by their criminal justice system from losers like Ivison, who should be in a prison cell right now.

The ironic part of all this is when, not if, someone is finally forced to use force to defend themselves against this animal, that person will be the one to have the book thrown at them by the local prosecutor, in order to send a "message" that violence won't be tolerated.

My embargo on trips to England continues.