Britons are 'passive bystanders', report claims

2 September 2008

The Independent, James Macintyre, 2 September 2008

Fundamental changes to policing and criminal justice are required because Britain has become a nation of "passive bystanders" who prefer to shift responsibility for crime and antisocial behaviour on to ministers, a study claims.

The report, from free-market think-tank Reform, says that Britain has the most expensive criminal justice system in the world but that over-centralisation by technocrats is failing to deliver results.

It proposes more transparency and local accountability via televised community court proceedings, online offender databases, detailed crime mapping, regionalised criminal justice policies, the devolution of power to elected local justice commissioners and a National Bureau of Investigation to tackle serious nationwide crime.

Reform said that a "Robocop, one-size-fits-all" justice system had developed in Britain, "where human judgement and engagement has been replaced by bureaucratic process and where the machine has gained a momentum of its own."

The authors also called on politicians to avoid building policy around rhetoric that is perceived to be vote-winning.

The research showed three-quarters of Britons believe that the police and courts are responsible for dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour, compared to just 45 per cent in France and Germany, where there was greater emphasis on individual intervention.