The other day I was at a kebab shop, and a customer was being abusive to the staff. The way he was acting was wholly inappropriate, and I, along with others, was quick to condemn him. After around 3 minutes, he left the takeaway, and as he had his back turned, leaving the store, one of the customers unnecessarily kicked him into the stone street. The way he was acting may have been wrong, and I believe it was wrong, but nonetheless, to respond with violence was, and is, fundamentally barbaric.
I think what perhaps made this violence worse was the way in which it was carried out. It wasn't, seemingly, an act of careful thought, it wasn't deemed to be a lamentable but necessary action, the pros and cons of the violence were not weighed up, but nor was it done in a fit of anger, with the assailant having lost complete control of his cognitive functions. So, If it was neither calculated, nor anger filled, what was it? It was largely nonchalant, it was natural, the customer was annoyed, and so he lashed out.
Clearly, it can be argued that I cannot know for sure exactly how and why the customer lashed out, I can only infer, but this act can't be seen in isolation. It is possible that the assailant can be excused, either through his act being measured (though that is unlikely) or through it being done in anger, but, there are a great deal of individuals in such situations - who respond with unnecessary violence - and they cannot all be excused - we must eventually realise we face a very real problem as a country.
It's all well and good to discuss these problems, problems of needless brutality, from domestic violence to pub fights, but what do we do with these barbarians on the ground? What do we do to save the victims of these Neanderthals? I have always prided myself on my social liberalism, on my commitment to progressive politics, but (and I never thought I'd say this) perhaps Tony Blair had a point when he called for us to not only be 'tough on the causes of crime', but also on crime itself - I question however whether even this would be enough to rid a country of such primitive actors.
Punishing criminals doesn’t prevent them committing the crime in the first place. Perhaps, therefore, punishment isn’t enough, perhaps I am calling for a pre-emptive strike, perhaps there is an argument for interning such men and women in labour camps, for both their own safety, and the safety of others.