So Where Did the Victims Go?

SvD has an article about how a “reformed” criminal who has been involved for the last ten years selling and using drugs has decided to become active helping young kids. Of course, we only have his word that he’s actually stopped dealing drugs, and we all know that addicts are the worst liars. But lets accept his premise, for now. What is interesting about the article is the unique Swedish perspective on crime and criminals. There is not a single mentioning of the victims that suffered from Mr. Dahlström’s criminal activities, nor are there any clamors for justice. Rather, he’s already forgiven, the victims are forgotten, and we should now listen to this man as he tells us how hard it is to avoid crime.

Oddly, the vast, overwhelming majority of the population finds it easy to avoid dealing drugs or robbing people of their belongings, so obviously it can’t be that difficult. Likewise, should we really let a criminal spend time among young people in a very delicate phase of their life? It reminds me of a truly Swedish, and truly frightening, project called “Double Care” which existed for many, many years. In it, children without their own homes were sent to live with drug addicts who were paid to take care of them. The idea was that this would cause the addicts to gain a sense of purpose and become more mature. Unfortunately, it left us with thousands of children put through both physical and psychological abuse from addict “parents”, while the government money was spent on more drugs. Swedish ingenuity at its finest, just like this crazy idea.

A far, far better idea would be to take these young delinquents to see crime victims. They can spend some time in the local emergency room and watch victims of beatings and knife assaults. They can watch the sentencing of other criminals. They can listen to the testimony of victims of crime. Every action has a consequence, and it is time we taught these individuals the meaning of that before they end up like Mr. Dahlström. We could also help by making crime something that’s not “cool”, as Mr. Dahlström calls it. A good way of doing this is by exposing criminals in public in newspapers and so on. A bit of humiliation works better than expensive months at a youth facility where they only meet other criminals.

It is time we start thinking about the victims instead of the criminals. Socialism has had its way long enough, reshaping Swedish society into believing that the more worthless as an individual you are, the more resources you deserve. The way I see it, resources should go to those who try their best but still fall between the cracks, not those who create the cracks in the first place.

As a final note, is it any wonder that Mr. Dahlström could continue dealing drugs and corrupting society for ten years without being caught when the unsolved crime rate is still around 90% for serious offenses? I guess it’s a good thing he decided to come clean on his own, as apparently the cops are too incompetent to do much about it. Then again, when all their caught criminals are released after a few weeks, who can blame them for getting lazy?

~ by Escaping Perdition on July 10, 2009.