25. Feb. 2010. – 16:25:54
Once again I want to mention statistics. The subject is now
so vital to government and myriad organisations it deserves a place in year 6
school classes because so few people are able to make reasoned judgements when
presented with even the simplest form of statistical analysis. Government by
Forums on this that and everything is nothing more than trying to please
some/all of the people some/all of the time or any combination that suits.
Nowhere is this more apparent or important than in criminology. From the
effects of Magistrates` Courts being able to impose suspended sentences with an
unforeseen requirement subsequently for more prison spaces owing to the
unexpected need to activate such sentences for those who committed further
offences during the period of suspension to the increased use of PNDs [Penalty
Notices for Disorder] by police being counted as crimes cleared up statistics
rears its [ugly?] head.
This is nowhere more important than on the subject of
Domestic Violence; a term frequently used to describe a crime which officially
doesn`t exist per se except as a particular type of assault where DV is an
aggravating factor. All judges and magistrates have undergone specialised
training before being allowed to sit on such matters. Much of the training
focuses on statistical analyses of the subject many obtained from foreign
studies. Since, we are told, so much such violence goes unrecorded it is not
heretical to question some aspects of some studies.
In the last decade much more has been done to arrest,
charge, convict and punish perpetrators of such violence which causes the death
of hundreds of women annually. But even so, numbers are sometimes flung about
like confetti.
In Asian News it is reported that during 2008/9, there were
more than 70,000 incidents of domestic abuse recorded by Greater Manchester
Police. On the web site of Greater Manchester Police it can be found
that there were 49,678 DV victims {my italics}in 2006/7. I`m sure that
other varied statistics could be found which one would find difficult to fix to
a common base and therefore worthy of comparison. The sooner the incoming
government instead of legislating for the sake of "doing something"
or "setting an example" introduced as a Bill or part thereof an
offence of Domestic Violence clearly defined and well drafted the better for us
all.....victims especially but also magistrates and judges.
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