Does anyone know what inner gratification is achieved by these people after the application of their particular "mark". Have any psychological papers been published upon this type of vandalism and the possible chromosomal inbalance that may have affect their mental view of what we would consider abnormal behaviour.
It's 'territorial p1ssing'. You'll find that taggers are almost exclusively young males. What starts off as a territorial thing develops into a thrill seeking exercise, that can become almost like a physical addiction. There may be some mileage in the idea that it's a mental imbalance whereby the individual ignores the consequences of their action.
I too have been through the criminal justice system and I too took the ****. I was given many chances to stop the pattern of criminality I'd got into before custody was considered an option, but in that period of my life, my work, financial and living arrangements were not improving, neither were my addictions. No one's fault but my own, I was given some opportunities to address my problems along with the necessary punishment elements, Community Service, curfews and probation. But I failed at those and thus gave the courts no option but to lock me up.
I then went through a period of continued criminality, in and out of prison and bail hostels with periods of homelessness in between. My offences were relatively petty and I was never sentenced to more than 7 months inside. My underlying problems weren't being addressed, mental health and alcoholism, so I remained, for a period of five years until 2005, unable to get out of the cycle of prison, hostel, homelessness, drink, crime, prison....
Finally after my last period of imprisonment I found myself in January 2006 released into the care of a 'Dry House' rehabilitation centre. I was able to address the drinking and recidivism and I finally broke the vicious circle. I had to, I was slowly killing myself. My personal circumstances are much improved now. Although I still struggle with the drink problem on occasions, I've not returned to crime. I now devote some of my time to voluntary work with young offenders, using my experiences to show to them that there are alternatives to a life of crime. Particularly pointing out that prison is no holiday camp. For the record - I never had a Playstation! In a couple of prisons I was in I never even had a telly!
One hopes that Daniel Halpin gets the opportunities to address his criminality whilst he is serving his custodial sentence. He will, in all likelihood, grow out of it, but with the right help he can be put onto the right path sooner rather than later. Prison should not just be about punishment (although that element is important for public confidence in the criminal justice system), it also needs to be about rehabilitation.
As for those advocating 'three strikes'. Let's only consider them for a string of more serious offences eh? Do you really want to see petty criminals given life sentences for say three instances of shoplifting, anti-social behaviour, or tagging? If you do, then be prepared for a massive increase in the prison population, which means more prisons to be built, which means an increase in taxes. That petty criminal may well be your son or daughter, slightly wayward in their teens having a couple of minor convictions to their name. Then one moment of madness in later life (say a drunken indescretion, or dangerous driving) and oh, look, this is the third time they are in court - life sentence. Bonkers idea.
