How does crime affect you most

Zambia

I was wondering something a while ago.

Crime is indeed a problem and though good times and bad it remains a problem. However here is the thing how does crime really affect your life? As in if you could pick one crime that you really just wanted gone for purely personnal reasons what would it be?

In my case it would burglary I cant stand burglars. At present my greatest exposure is the breaking in and entering of my house. Not to mention to violating feeling when they leave.

In a shopkeepers case it could be shoplifters constantly draining the stock of your business forcing you to hire guards and extra staff to cap the problem.

I dont fear ganglend murders because I was never a target. I dont despise at the flow of illicit drugs because I have no kids and dont buy them.

So for example if I heard that 16 gangsters a day are gunned down in Talifornia I would not care if I was safe from Burglary in Blanch.

So ask yourself what criminal do you spend the most time protecting yourself against?

Note :I am aware that a lot of crime is interconnected as in a lot of drug use can equate to a lot of petty crime.

me_right_one

Drugs are the big one for me. They are such a detrimental part of society. I'd let some scummer rob my plasma-screen any day if I knew drugs and their related crime would stop. Every nite some nutcase starts on ye, he's coked out of his tree. Every elderly neighbour who gets broken into, its always a "victim" junkie who was only feeding his habit. The dissident republicans, crazed stabbings, tiger kidnapping, it all goes back to drugs. They are the backbone of it all.

If I was the dictator of Ireland, I would build underground jails, with enough rooms for the entire population. They would be padded, and would have a telly behind a screen built into the wall, with only the disney channel and network 2 on. If you were caught with drugs, for any "use", you would be going into one of these rooms until you die.

Bottle_of_Smoke

It annoys me a lot hearing about organised crime gangsters making millions and getting away with it. But I'd be more in the 'they're rich because we ban drugs' camp

Begging isn't a crime but it should be and that really pisses me off. Also so-called single mothers getting cheap accommodation then living with the father/a partner is sickening. Basically theft as well as giving single mothers in genuine need a bad name

I've never been a victim of burglary but it must be horrible.

Corruption & misuse of offices/responsibilities is the one that gets me the most. I'm not terribly bothered by mainstream crime. That's something that only affects a small grouping of people, but the actions of those that continue political & business corruption are the people that deserve some of the harshest judgment/sentencing.

Fact is, for me, I'd add a few criminal categories based on the actions of those politicians (not just politicians, but those holding governmental positions like the enterprise board or Fas), property developers, bankers, etc which have screwed this country and have gotten away with a slap on the wrist. These are the people that deserve to be judged by society & the law courts because they have had the most negative on society as a whole.

Dublinman12

Burglary is the one id pick...awful heinous crime and its only when you are affected that makes you realise how disgusting it is...Its as personal as it gets ...the mental assault is the real damage and they dont get done for that...

i have been affected by it and while myself and my girlfriend were in bed...im my opiinion if somebody breaks into a house while somebody is there it should carry a mandatory sentence....but you have the usual bleeding hearts pleading their case...thus ignoring their 48 previous convictions while theyre at it.....

starbelgrade

me_right_one wrote: »

Drugs are the big one for me. They are such a detrimental part of society. I'd let some scummer rob my plasma-screen any day if I knew drugs and their related crime would stop. Every nite some nutcase starts on ye, he's coked out of his tree. Every elderly neighbour who gets broken into, its always a "victim" junkie who was only feeding his habit. The dissident republicans, crazed stabbings, tiger kidnapping, it all goes back to drugs. They are the backbone of it all.

If I was the dictator of Ireland, I would build underground jails, with enough rooms for the entire population. They would be padded, and would have a telly behind a screen built into the wall, with only the disney channel and network 2 on. If you were caught with drugs, for any "use", you would be going into one of these rooms until you die.

Well, thank God that you aren't the 'dictator of Ireland' then - because all that you would achieve would be to make the problems even worse.

You don't achieve anything by prohibition. It has done nothing but fail since it began.

southsiderosie

Drug-related crime is my bugbear too. And it't not the drugs part that I mind, it is the related crime, and especially violent crime.

The illicit drug trade fuels gang crime and corruption in buyer countries, and even more crime and corruption in producing countries.

I know at least six people, including family members who were innocent bystanders that were shot and killed by gang bangers. A cousin was shot in the face and killed in a botched carjacking, and the guy that did it was a junkie. His brother was shot and killed while sitting on his porch ten years earlier.

I've had to run from gang shoot outs twice myself, once while at work. Drugs and gangs have decimated entire swathes of my hometown.

The people who say that "drugs don't hurt anybody" are not the ones who live in the neighborhoods where they are aggressively sold by street gangs.

I think that pot should be legalized and we should be able to grow it ourselves. And I think there needs to be some kind of research into alternative uses for base materials like coca and opium that are used to produce illicit narcotics. But once some new boundaries are set, I am all for extremely harsh punishments for hard drugs, and I think that we should lock up traffickers and throw away the key.

Einhard

Crime barely affects me.

Crime is not a "major problem" to the average citizen of this island.

Hyperbole however, is a major problem on boards.

Zambia

Southside do you mind if I ask whereabouts all this took place ?

Because not many people in Ireland have a Porch and if they do they dont sit on it that much.

southsiderosie

Zambia232 wrote: »

Southside do you mind if I ask whereabouts all this took place ?

Because not many people in Ireland have a Porch and if they do they dont sit on it that much.

The US. I grew up in Chicago, and when I lived in DC I used to work with kids in an environment that could best be described as something out of The Wire. :eek:

When I lived in Dublin though, I was amazed by the open-air drug dealing and use I saw around the city center. I hated seeing it, but I guess I was surprised to see that much drug activity without the accompanying violence. But having talked to community workers in deprived inner-city areas, the social fallout is basically the same. God help Ireland if guns become as readily available there as they are in the US.

I hate drugs. :mad:

Rockery Woman

Thankfully in the countryside crime isn't prevalent. However this year I've started locking my car at night....;)

Rockery Woman

I hate drugs too:mad:

Zambia

Einhard wrote: »

Crime barely affects me.

Crime is not a "major problem" to the average citizen of this island.

Hyperbole however, is a major problem on boards.

I see no hyperbole here Einhard. If it does reside on Boards then to no more an extent than it does on the main st in Ireland. The beauty of boards is someone who does know what you are exagerating about will ask you to prove it.

Crime is no major problem in the sense that everyone has to travel armed 24/7. But it is a problem for most people in Ireland.

If it was not a problem

• Almost every private residence would not have an alarm
• Women would not consider how easy there everyday handbag is to the pick pocket.
• Almost every shop door in the city centre of dublin would not have a security guard.
• If you are considering buying a Golf GTI the fact someone is gonna try and break into you gaff for the keys would not even enter your mind.*

So if you use a hand bag own a nice house and drive a Golf GTI to your shop in the city chances are it never leaves your mind for long.

* Unless thats changed in the last 4 years.

southsiderosie

Zambia232 wrote: »

I dont fear ganglend murders because I was never a target. I dont despise at the flow of illicit drugs because I have no kids and dont buy them.

So for example if I heard that 16 gangsters a day are gunned down in Talifornia I would not care if I was safe from Burglary in Blanch.

TBH, I think this kind of attitude is problematic. It's one thing to not have to live in fear of this kind of stuff. But it is another thing to think that it doesn't have effects outside of those specific communities. An increased flow of drugs quite often leads to an increase in police and government corruption. And drug use creates social problems that ultimately we all have to deal with and pay for. In a small country like Ireland, this is particularly stark; I find it shocking that the Liffey boardwalk is (or was until it was cleaned up in the last few weeks) an open-air heroin market. The city center didn't feel dangerous to me the way that part of the south side of Chicago do, but it certainly impacts quality of life, local business, and tourism when there are junkies and skangers everywhere.

There are very few people in Ireland who need to worry about getting shot because of drug-related violence. But there are an awful lot of people who worry about being mugged, burglarized, or harassed because of hardcore drug use and readily available heroin.

Zambia

I could not agree more but its hard to instill a sense of urgency into people when they are not directly under threat.

There is also the aspect there is little I or the average person can do about gang land crime. So if I cant do anything about it and It does not affect me... it will fall to the back of my mind.

srfc19

me_right_one wrote: »

Drugs are the big one for me. They are such a detrimental part of society. I'd let some scummer rob my plasma-screen any day if I knew drugs and their related crime would stop. Every nite some nutcase starts on ye, he's coked out of his tree. Every elderly neighbour who gets broken into, its always a "victim" junkie who was only feeding his habit. The dissident republicans, crazed stabbings, tiger kidnapping, it all goes back to drugs. They are the backbone of it all.

If I was the dictator of Ireland, I would build underground jails, with enough rooms for the entire population. They would be padded, and would have a telly behind a screen built into the wall, with only the disney channel and network 2 on. If you were caught with drugs, for any "use", you would be going into one of these rooms until you die.

Best dictator ever, the disney channel would be awesome on drugs.

I know every time this topic comes up the same arguments come up,but most of the problems you have mentioned are due to the criminalization of drugs and not down to the drugs themselves.

bijapos

Zambia232 wrote: »

As in if you could pick one crime that you really just wanted gone for purely personnal reasons what would it be?

For me it would be intimidation and threatening and abusive behaviour.

I mean by this when you go for a pint, take a bus or go to the shops and you get the whole "what you fuckin lookin at" thing. It seems to have caught on everywhere. I live in a fairly upper middle class area of Dublin and the kids around here, a lot of who are in private schools tend to gather near a row of shops at night and generally be abusive to anyone who walks by.

The city centre on a weekend night is as bad, streets are full of scum "relaxing" after a hard week in the office who think its OK to act the bollix with everyone. Sadly it seems to be a mentality that exists here and the UK, I lived in France and Germany for a good few years and I met very little of it there. And sorry to say it but the Guards and courts have very little interest in this either.

mikemac

The crime that affects me most isn't gangland or white-collar. Well it indirectly does but it isn't seen by my very own eyes so not as "real" to me if that makes sense.

It's gang of bored kids who shout abuse, shine laser pointers at drivers and throw beer bottles at you when your back is turned.
All this talk about ASBO's solved nothing. The squad car moves them on and they are back the next night.
People are second guessing themselves before they walk to the shops for a pint of milk. Lash out and box a teenager and it'll probably be you in court. Either that or you get jumped on by a gang. Cowards on their own, brave in a group.
I don't have rose tinted glasses, not even that old but I don't remember being allowed to hang around streets at 10pm on school nights.
Saddening

FTA69

The above post is spot on, the crime that drives people up the wall the most is anti-social behaviour in residential areas; people subjected to low-level harassment and blackguarding by youngfellas who end up on the streets because they generally come from sh*tty home-lives and have p*ss-heads or junkies for parents.

southsiderosie

FTA69 wrote: »

The above post is spot on, the crime that drives people up the wall the most is anti-social behaviour in residential areas; people subjected to low-level harassment and blackguarding by youngfellas who end up on the streets because they generally come from sh*tty home-lives and have p*ss-heads or junkies for parents.

But as another poster noted, middle-class kids do this too.

I think what started as a weird social problem has turned into a policing problem. In the US, there is a strong "move it along" culture, so you get a lot less of this kind of thing. It's also a parenting issue; every time I saw packs of feral children running around O'Connell street late on a weeknight, all I could think was, 'where are your parents'? But I would agree that it definitely eats away at the quality of life for average citizens.

prinz

As posts above. General anti-social threatening and abusive behaviour; and deal with it on a daily basis, on buses - listening to verbal abuse, everything up to physical assault, on the streets - gangs of kids hanging about outside shops, etc. Have had the same as mentioned above, young lads blocking the path, one pup of about 12 asking me 'who said I could use his road' and spitting in my direction..etc. I've had groups of these little runts follow me home at one stage, and too many instances of individuals in the city centre to recall.

Really charming stuff, and again as mentioned above you are powerless to do anything about it, have words - makes it worse, get physical - and you'd be the one answering for it.

I don't think it has anything to do with social class either. There's definitely a trend towards invincibility and lack of accountability amongst many youths up to about 20, and the parents are to blame for most of it, along with Irish society in general. As above, have lived on the continent and it's not nearly as prevalent whatsoever.

FTA69

They do but not as bad. Outside my gaff the other day I witnessed a youngfella walk up to a parked car and put a brick through the back window, similarly the same crowd (all under 18, some as young as about 12) have burned out cars, attacked people when off their nut and generally act the sh*t around the entire estate. Middle-class areas do not have that level of anti-social behaviour at all and kids in Blackrock aren't off robbing cars and attacking random strangers for the craic.

The reason is that in poorer areas kids end up on the street because 1) there's little else for them to do and 2) their home lives often aren't that great. Once you're hanging around the streets its a slippery slope into the above type of behaviour.

FTA69

prinz wrote: »

Really charming stuff, and again as mentioned above you are powerless to do anything about it, have words - makes it worse, get physical - and you'd be the one answering for it.

Yep, you'd be a fool to underestimate a large group of young teenagers. Many bony fists = large injury. I've learned that myself. You can confront them continuously but you'll also eventually realise that it largely isn't worth it, especially if you live with your girlfriend or whatever.

Laminations

I live in a so called deprived area in Dublin. Before I continue I'll preface what I say with there are many nice people live here who care for the area and for their kids, I'm one. Also there are many great facilities, swimming pool, football pitches, parks, playgrounds, cinema. So being from this area can't be used as an excuse by the few in the area who have no regard for the law or for others. The area isn't responsible for making people scumbags, although it certainly doesn't help, mainly because of the number of scumbags its a circular problem.

You don't care about the area, because its a dump, and the area is a dump because you dont care about it.

I've seen 5 year olds sent out to 'play' for the entire day - 5 yr olds wandering the street all day, til it gets dark, even in the rain. I've seen underage drinking and the abuse of passers-by that comes with it. Littering is a bloody disgrace too. I started to clean up outside the house after teenagers had left their cans, wrappers, rubbish (kids also litter freely) but after the mess reappearing night after night, you start to think whats the point? Anti-social behaviour stems for inadequate parenting, and also a wholly disrespectful attitude to the gardai. Listen to this podcast from Pat Kenny 'What's the Story with Policing?' to get a feel of the attitude that many people have. Trouble makers with persecution complexes.

I din do nuthin boss, wha ya pickin on me far?

Hint: Stop fvcking about and the Gardai won't bother you.

FTA69

So being from this area can't be used as an excuse by the few in the area who have no regard for the law or for others. The area isn't responsible for making people scumbags, although it certainly doesn't help, mainly because of the number of scumbags its a circular problem.

No, but it stands to logic that if you grow up deprived, have less education and employment opportunity and have abuse, domestic violence or substance abuse in your home you are more likely to end up committing crime or going down the wrong path. Does that justify anti-social behaviour? Of course it doesn't, the vast majority of people in working-class areas are decent people doing their best in life. However, marginalisation will lead to a rise in the above carry on, there's a difference between an explanation and a justification.

I've seen 5 year olds sent out to 'play' for the entire day - 5 yr olds wandering the street all day, til it gets dark, even in the rain. I've seen underage drinking and the abuse of passers-by that comes with it.

True, the local sh*theads in my gaff have parents that make them look like angels, and they have to bear some responsibility for how their children turn out. Then again unfortunately some of the worst criminals can come from perfectly decent families in a given area.

Hint: Stop fvcking about and the Gardai won't bother you.

The standard of policing in these areas is also rubbish and the cops will often "bother" you for no reason because they tar everyone from a deprived area as a scumbag.