It’s bad enough when it’s one on one but there have been several headlines highlighting gang beatings literally kicking and stamping people to death and then gleefully boasting.  Just one step beyond ‘happy slappings’, except when the outcome is lethal even they’re not stupid enough to create video evidence.

Why, why, why do they do it?  Is human life so worthless?  What is it about us as a race that allows such behaviour?  Even if we as individuals happened across such an event, what could we do to stop it?

Yes, we know that these teenage killings are testosterone fuelled with some kind of quasi tribal motive.  Territory and ‘respect’ are factors.  In essence it’s no different to football related violence where young men (and not so young men) gang together for the sake of a coloured jersey and engage in violent activity.  Maybe at a major event like the World Cup they will form alliances and take on the local constabulary.  For some reason this doesn’t seem to happen in Rugby circles.  But these knife killings and savage beatings are a step beyond.

What kind of society are we that breeds callous killers, a knife carrying gang culture and gratuitous violence?  I do believe anonymity is at the heart of this and could be addressed by more extensive of use of CCTV.

It may be that the media plays a part by providing the inspiration in the form of violent movies and graphical console games, but at the end of the day you can’t say they are the root cause.  I don’t believe anybody is born evil, we are all a mixture of nature and nurture and I am sure that the violence is a function of the nurture.

In the past, a criminal would be known in their community and would suffer from the ongoing ignominy even after a sentence was served.  The community would be wary of them and they would have to earn respect over a long time.  Today, in our crowded towns and cities, everybody is virtually anonymous.  If criminals commit crime today they are not recognised by the rest of the community, in fact it is this lack of sense of community that is the underlying cause of our troubles.

I believe technology has a role to play, CCTV is a good preventative measure but currently the quality is too poor to secure solid convictions.  We need more cameras and better cameras.  What about the ‘Big Brother’ overtones? Frankly, I don’t give a damn, if it is used responsibly and it makes our lives safer, what’s the problem?