Usman Khan 29/11/19

Usman Khan, still tagged after his release from prison for his terrorist involvement in a plot to blow up the Stock Exchange kills two innocent people at a Prisoner Rehabilitation Conference where he rubbed shoulders with 'academics' on the subject. No doubt he was there to offer them his aperçus on the subject.

The Police, the Judiciary and the Penal system have the job of deciding how best to deal with those who disqualify themselves from the mores of civilised society by resorting to violence. They are usually arrested, tried and incarcerated thus making that disqualification a symbolic physical reality.

Now, however, we are more likely to include them in the decision-making process as if their past violence gives them some kind of status. We see this again when there is a knife murder in London. The reflex response of the media stations is to consult an ex-con who has reformed as some kind of expert on the matter. We are treated to hearing from a semi-articulate fella in a baseball cap who says communi'y a lot and tells us it's all about the lack of youth clubs and not the morally disastrous decisions he took.

It seems that what once disqualified people from involvement in taking responsible decisions is now the very thing that qualifies them for the role of authorities on the matter while decent non-violent citizens look on. The fact that these ex-cons made the most catastrophic decisions regarding the desirability of violence makes them somehow better than those who daily make the right decisions. It is beyond galling.

All of this, no doubt, derives from the fact that we are falling over ourselves not to 'judge'' them (even though their incarceration suggests that a Judge has judged them)  these violent people, to show that, in some profound sense, it's not their fault, and to 'understand' them. I'm all in favour of rehabilitation and think it's important that it is considered a real 'thing.' It's a much longer and harder road than this, where ex-offenders are lionised, though......