Yes, that is exactly how to fix the problem

[sqbr]

Evicting rioters' families from their homes? There's a horrible logic to it

I hate this pattern of punishing people for behaviours associated with poverty by making them more poor. I'm not saying the rioters were blameless political dissidents fighting for freedom or whatever, but the economic situation was obviously related to them feeling like rioting was a reasonable action (Although David Cameron disagrees), and I can't see how pushing their entire family onto the street is going to help matters. See also the the Australian government's tendency to cut people off welfare for sneezing in the wrong direction.

Comments

[whatistigerbalm]

I hate this pattern of punishing people for behaviours associated with poverty by making them more poor.

This, and I hate Cameron and Osborne and May in general.

[sqbr]

Yeah I'm not exactly fond of them, and I have the advantage of being a very long way away.

[lilacsigil]

Like punishing people by cutting off disability or dole payments, only worse. And even more so because they're punishing an entire family for the actions of one person. Now I know why politicians weren't bothered by the idea of cutting off internet access to the whole house or block of flats if one person had downloaded copyrighted material: this was a feature, not a bug.

[sqbr]

Yeah :(

[meloukhia]

Good heavens. This is rather horrific. It seems to me like evictions are likely to create even more resentment and unrest, so evictions may 'punish' people (for having family members involved in the riots) but they certainly won't accomplish the long term goal of preventing this sort of thing in the future. And it's just..wrong.

[sqbr]

Exactly!

[attentive]

The family evictions are a form of 'collective punishment' which has dubious legality in the UK.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_punishment

The Tory response to the riots - describing them as an expression of 'pure criminality' and repeatedly using racialised language or complaining in veiled terms about the 'different language' (meaning the street patois of Caribbean origin widely spoken in some communities) of the street - is reprehensible, and more to the point, the authoritarian measures being employed are highly unlikely to reduce the likelihood of a recurrence of the rioting.