Fr Peter McVerry describes the links he has witnessed between social deprivation and crime.
Fr Peter McVerry is a Jesuit priest who has worked for a number of years in Dublin's inner city with young people experiencing deprivation. He runs several homes for young people in the area. He takes to the soap box on 'The Late Late Show' to share his experience of social deprivation and crime in Dublin.
We are told by certain sections of the media that crime is rampant in our society.
Fr McVerry describes the Dublin inner city as the most disadvantaged area in the country. After spending time in the area, he was able to identify who would end up in prison. If society wants to tackle the problem of crime, it needs to identify the influences that prompt a life of crime. No research of this sort has ever been undertaken.
He sees social deprivation as a major cause of crime. He recalls the story of a young lad named John who lived with his family in a flat in the inner city. In the flat below them lived another family who had many problems and rows would often take place throughout the night, keeping John upstairs awake. John would go to school tired and find it difficult to concentrate. He quickly fell behind with his school work and became disruptive, bored and frustrated. After being suspended from school a number of times, by the age of 12, he was expelled. With nothing to do, John hung around the streets with older lads. He got into some minor scrapes with the law, ended up in the Children's Court and quickly progressed onto a career of crime, ending up in prison.
Fr McVerry is of the belief that John is not solely to blame for how his life turned out and that society must take some of the blame.
While social deprivation is not an excuse for crime, he argues that it is an explanation. There needs to be a focus on juvenile crime, which can begin in teenage years or earlier. He also raises questions about the effectiveness of the prison system in preventing crime. He argues instead in favour of offering the opportunity to reform.
I have become more and more convinced of the truth of the old saying, society gets the criminals it deserves.
This episode of The Late Late Show was broadcast on 11 October 1985. The presenter is Gay Byrne.
