Jack May wrote:
Wrong, the crime rates have gone down significantly as the number of
prisoners has gone up. Its a little harder, though not impossible to
commit a crime when you are in prison.

The problem we have, which can make it look like prison doesn't work,
is that it's so easy to get away with committing a crime these days.

It's not just the anti-social stuff, but the fact the police are
stretched, made to do 'visible policing' that takes them away from the
crime hotspots and puts them on shopping streets, outside Parliament
and train stations etc, rely on CSOs to deter the very people that know
they can stick their fingers up at someone not given the power to
arrest (as most aren't) or have had their job replaced by a camera that
catches a specific offender and ignores everything else.

It's not even easy to report a crime these days. The desk staff (often
completely civilian) are so disinterested that they effectively
encourage you to keep quiet, which only helps criminals get away with
even more. If I need to go to the police station, I have to do it in
office hours too! Finally, at night, some parts of Hertfordshire makes
do with one car that might have to travel from miles away to respond to
something. Couple a lack of police, and no desire to report a crime,
and is it any wonder that petty criminals advance themselves without
having to learn from 'someone on the inside'?

Jonathan