Tackling crimes of the jobless

It is, meanwhile, possible to argue that this Island’s law enforcement and judicial structures are, in a majority of cases, acceptably tough on crime. However, can it also be said in the present circumstances that we are being sufficiently tough on at least some of the causes of crime?

Speaking this week, Youth Court panel chairman Peter Harris pointed out that a great many of those appearing before his panel and, indeed, in the Magistrate’s Court, are young men unable or unwilling to find work. It is, therefore, implicit that if at least some of these young men were in gainful employment there would be less opportunity or impetus for them to become involved in criminal activity.

Here in Jersey sheer economic necessity drives few people in the direction of crime, but young people with too much time and too little to do can succumb to temptation. An adage coined not by New Labour but by some anonymous sage at some time in the distant past sums up the situation – ‘the Devil makes work for idle hands’.

The answer to the problem of the correlation between joblessness and anti-social behaviour is, of course, easy to spot – create more jobs for young people – but achieving this in the present economic climate is anything but a simple matter. As the recent response to a new States apprenticeship scheme which attracted 235 applications for six positions indicated, jobs are scarce.

New government investment in job creation through economic stimulus, coupled with recovery from recession, might well improve the position, but in the short term the advice offered by Advocate Harris to one of the young men he dealt with should be heeded and heeded very carefully by all those concerned.

Those who fall into crime through boredom, through being led by their peers or through coveting goods or a lifestyle that they are unable to afford must realise that the implications of even juvenile indiscretions can blight a person’s job prospects far into adulthood.