My memory isn’t as good as it used to be, but I’ve always been pretty good with names.
So it struck me on a visit to Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court last week that I’d seen a few of the names on the daily court list before.
Not normal names you see, like Smith or Brown, but names that would stick in your consciousness if you were ever to come across them again. I won’t mention them, for obvious reasons.
That might be nothing out of the ordinary, you might think, but when I tell you that some of these names first came on to my radar well over a decade ago, when I started the job as a cub reporter in Fife, then I think I’m justified in saying that alarm bells were raised.
These guys and gals were relatively fresh-faced regulars at court back in 2003, so to see them still coming before a sheriff 14 years later is nothing short of depressing.
A quick chat with a solicitor confirmed my worst fears. These folk are career criminals who are apparently content with being in and out of prison for short spells. More often than not their parents, their siblings, their friends had drug and/or alcohol issues and had been behind bars before them, and if you are stuck in that crowd or in that situation with little help to get out of it then you are invariably going to go the same way.
“It’s like a badge of honour being at court for some of them,” the solicitor added.
It’s a very, very sad sight to see. I even had the privilege of seeing one poor soul, slurring his words after a few special brews at 10am in the morning, bragging to his mates about going for a “square go” with some other ne’er-do-well in Kirkcaldy later that afternoon. This was minutes before he was due to go before a sheriff who was going to evaluate his progress on a drug treatment and testing order.
All of that perhaps then begs the question: why aren’t these people locked up for longer?
You may be different, but I’m not in the “throw away the key” kind of camp.
What this sorry tale highlights, in my view, is the need for this country to do more – much more – to reduce reoffending and, where possible, to get in earlier to stop people committing crimes in the first place.
If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it, but surely handing out short-term prison sentences for petty crimes does no-one any favours whatsoever?
A report to Fife’s safer communities committee recently revealed that 819 offences received a custodial sentence in 2014/15. Just under 240 of those were for shoplifting.
I’m not suggesting the latter should get off scot free, but what a waste of time, resources and people’s lives that is.
It is only through listening, understanding and responding to the needs of people who go through the justice system that we will be able to properly tackle the causes of crime.
These causes are often rooted in existing inequalities across Fife’s communities, but what’s clear is that services which aim to identify those at risk and are well-placed to provide early and effective intervention simply must be given greater support.
