Even the most hardened and brutal criminals were innocent, fun loving, carefree children once. When I talk to both serious and low level criminals one of the most striking things is the difficulties they had in their upbringing. This is not an excuse for people. But we should recognise that for children to grow up into law abiding citizens who care for their neighbours they really need three things as children.
All three help in the fight against crime. People with love in their hearts don’t take knives and stab people in places Tooting High Street. People with firm boundaries don’t act anti-socially in places like Old Hospital Close and ruin the lives of their neighbours. People with strong role models don’t join gangs like the notorious Tooting Boys gang who brutally murdered two people on Fircroft Road.
All three can come from different places. But the most straightforward way is from the family. Even the most compassionate social worker cannot love a child the way a mother can. It is a parent’s love for a child which gives them the moral strength to set boundaries that are meaningful. What greater role model can there be for a child than from an older brother or sister or from a respected grandparent?
When Tony Blair came to power he talked passionately about being tough on the causes of crime. This rhetoric is right. But Labour have always seen the causes of crime as something that money can solve or can be counselled out of people or managed by social workers. I believe that the most effective way of being tough on the causes of crime is to strengthen all family units.
This is not about picking which family units are more worthy than others. The Conservative Party is not about to declare war on single mothers. In fact, as someone who was raised by a single mother, I know that single mothers have some of the toughest jobs of all.
However, we should recognise that two people standing in front of friends and family and making a life long commitment should be supported and recognised.
Marriage is a good thing. It gives children the best chance of having two parents on site providing them with the love, boundaries and role models that they need.
We know that marriage also encourages people to stay together through the challenges of parenthood. Within five years of the birth of a child, 8% of married couples split up, compared to 52% of cohabitees and 25% of those who marry after birth.
However, Labour have really let families down. Sometimes they even encourage people not to make commitments to one another. Some of the pressures that families face at the moment include:
- Rising costs of living… that’s why tax cuts and keeping borrowing low (which keeps interest rates down) are both so important for families
- Time wasted in long commutes eats into family time and makes people miserable on the way home… that’s why we have to improve SWT and the Northern Line
- Tax credits which hinder families planning their money by never giving them a set income… that’s why we need to drastically reform this whole system
- Childcare which is expensive and difficult… that’s why we need a better system than the Government’s failing Surestart programme
- A benefits system which pays you more if you don’t get married… marriage at the very least deserves a level playing field
Fighting crime is not just about more bobbies on the beat and tougher sentences – important though these are. It is also about strengthening the family unit.
If we encourage stronger families with ideas like these, we will start to break the cycle which sees too many children taking the wrong roads in their lives and ending up in Wandsworth prison.