Some Thoughts on Crime in Walworth

I live in Elephant and Castle in London. It’s area which for decades was run down and high crime. Traditionally it was a mix of white and black working class and latin immigrants. Around 10 years ago a massive redevelopment project was launched. I cam here two years ago. Today the area is a mix. The high street is a mix of run down phone repair shops and cheap British eateries alongside higher end restaurants and luxury bakeries and coffee/sandwich shops. The council blocks are still there but there are also high rises and luxury mid-rise developments like the ones where I live. Walking down the street, I now see young professionals and asian students (with very rich parents) alongside the other inhabitants.

There’s a sandwich shop I always go to. It’s called Rude n Boomin. It’s very much a place that caters to yuppies. A sandwich is £8. A smoothie £6. It seemed to be doing quite well. The food was great. It was run by a two people, a middle aged, friendly but assertive kiwi woman and a super fit British guy who grew up in the area. A few weeks ago I saw a sign on the shop saying they were shutting down and the business is for sale. I walked in and after ordering talked to the Kiwi woman for a while. What she told me wasn’t surprising, but I think it’s worth reiterating.

She told me that every week she’d have multiple people come into the shop and spit at her, scream at her, try to rob her etc… Mostly drug addicts. Sometimes local criminals. One time a man tried to kick down her front door at night. She initially called the police but they never came. When they did, they would come half and hour later and just try to talk her into dropping the case. She told me that she just didn’t want to deal with that and that was one of the main reasons she was leaving.

I talked to her more about her life. She grew up in New Zealand. She was a legal secretary first. She worked for the prosecutors office and private practice. Then she joined the police and spent years there. She talked to me about gangs there vs in London. How the organized crime there was more serious. How firearms response units worked there. After the police she became a chef. Eventually she was managing a pastry/sweet place with a dozen staff under her. Sometime after that she moved to London. It’s a shame her story in the UK ends like this, but it’s probably the right decision for her.

She also told me about complaints the business community in the area has. Many of the higher end businesses have leases from Lend-lease, the large developer who has redeveloped the area. Many of those same business have left or gone bankrupt. One of my favourite places, bobo social, recently shuttered it’s elephant and castle branch. According to the Kiwi, this was because the contracts for their lease were written in such a way as to saddle them with extortionate energy costs. Including shady things like the developer trying to charge the restaurants for street lighting around the block. Interesting if true.

When I walk around here, I see crime all around me. It’s mostly blatant. The casual clacking sound of a stolen and broken e-bike as a teenager rides it by. Phone-snatchings around my building. Two robberies I’ve seen in broad daylight. Drug addicts shooting up until I go and tell the concierge who calls private security to come and shoo them away.

I’ve read a fair bit about crime. I tend to think that criminal justice, alongside nuclear energy, housing and migration, is one of the areas of policy where there are obvious, huge low-hanging fruit. I’ve written before in [[cruxes on crime]] about power laws in crime, the difficult of reforming criminals and why prison an incapacitation seems like an obvious solution. I think another interesting angle, maybe somewhat specific to the UK’s current problems, is the state of the courts.

The criminal justice system has a few parts but broadly you can split it into three.

• The police who catch criminals
• The courts where criminals are tried
• The prisons where criminals are placed

A few facts about the state of criminal courts in the UK currently:

• The average offense takes a year to go to court  (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1102428/court-waiting-times-in-england-and-wales/#:~:text=Number%20of%20days%20between%20offence,England%20and%20Wales%202014%2D2023&text=As%20of%20the%20first%20quarter,median%20average%20was%20398%20days.). Some serious offenses, like rape, take much longer. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rape-cases-court-backlog-delays-victims-trials-b2553205.html
• There’s a chronic shortage of barristers. The price the government sets for barristers work is extremely low. Naturally, this means few barristers/solicitors choose to work in criminal law. Those who do often leave due to the long hours, difficult cases and incredibly poor pay. (https://x.com/legalhackette/status/1540237164574871552/photo/1)

In real terms the budget of the courts has fallen drastically since 2012. The decrease has been gradual, but still probably pretty devastating. It’s also suprising given how small a % of gov spending the courts are relative to the NHS/pensions/welfare.

Why is this the case? Surely a reasonable government would make sure courts function? A few plausible explanations:

• Maybe this kind of makes sense from a political economy perspective. Most voters have no contact with the courts. Creeping cuts to court funding or a dysfunctional court system are hence basically invisible and have a marginal impact on voters. On the other hand frontline spending, e.g: on winter fuel payments, pensions via the triple lock or more slots at the local GP surgery, are noticeable and convert to votes much better.
• Maybe it’s just incompetence. The UK recently had to release thousands of prisoners who had only served 40% of their sentences. (the usual norm is release after 50% ). This was done by the new Labour government but was the fault of the outgoing conservative government who for years had ignored repeated, urgent warning about a dire and worsening shortage of prison places. That this mass release happened was just pure idiocy. Maybe the same is true of the defunding of the courts.