MONDAY 5 AUGUST 2019

Patel’s crackdown on crime will

put us in more danger

Priti Patel’s declaration that she wants to employ more police officers so as to ensure

that criminals “literally feel terror at the thought of committing offences”, together

with her previous observations on the deterrent effect of the death penalty, show

that we now have a home secretary who has a dangerous lack of understanding of

the principles of deterring criminal activity.

The current state of theory and empirical knowledge based on a large body of international research on the
subject can be expressed in five key points.

The first is that the certainty of being caught is a vastly more powerful deterrent than the punishment.

The second is that sending a criminal to prison isn’t a very effective way of deterring crime.

Third, police deter crime by increasing the perception that criminals will be caught and punished.

Fourth, increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.

And finally, there is absolutely no proof that the death penalty deters criminals.

I appreciate that Patel is a member of a government that shows no inclination to disagree with Michael
Gove’s assertion that the “people of this country have had enough of experts” but for a home secretary to
apparently ignore the advice of criminologists throughout the world should cause us all to be concerned
about our future safety and security.

Colin Burke Manchester

I read, with barely disguised mirth, the speech from Priti Patel, the new home secretary, stating – amongst
other things – that criminals should “feel terror”.

Looking at her past performance, I would strongly conjecture that should your average recidivist find
themselves stuck in a room with Patel, for say an hour, the only feelings that would waft over them, apart
from boredom, would be incredulity at such a clearly clueless person being an MP, let alone a government
minister.

Robert Boston Kingshill, Kent

Priti Patel might be right

Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol or whilst on the phone; dangerous driving; driving without
licence or insurance; fly tipping; littering; vandalism; shoplifting; taking without owner’s consent; and a
host of other dangerous or antisocial behaviours are those that weigh most heavily on the public perception
of crime and are despised by all.

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