Sir, – Is there any flip-side to Fr Peter McVerry’s ongoing mantra that the failures of society in general are responsible for the way some people turn out and become criminals? In his “us and them” piece, (Opinion, August 22nd), in which he made a comparison between blue- and white-collar criminals, his neat sound-bite about “burglars in jeans” made same offenders sound like Robin Hoods.
He is obviously not comfortable with the fact that there are good and bad people and that the latter, when they commit a crime become “them” by their own free will.
If we must do one thing to deter wrongdoing and reduce the numbers of prisoners held by the State, it is to impress upon potential lawbreakers that they will have to take responsibility for their own actions. The supporting crutch of using their misfortune as an excuse for their behaviour must be removed.
Fr McVerry concludes that some would write off his piece as “typical left-wing liberalism”; I can see how many aggrieved victims would do just that. – Yours, etc,