“For the time being, the rioters, however bad their actions – and actually because they have been so bad – must be seen as the victims of a wider national malaise as well as responsible actors who momentarily took some very wrong decisions.”
That’s quite Lacanian, isn’t it? Even if the “criminality” is systemic, one is still responsible for one’s enjoyment in committing acts of “criminality” — knowing why one does it isn’t sufficient as a defence, because one still has to account for one’s fetishistic disavowal.
It’s rather sad, I think, when a conclusion such as “For this reason, a way must be found by the courts and the councillors to treat these young offenders at once firmly and yet sympathetically, for the sake of their better flourishing in the future” is not altogether common sense.
I don’t get the bit about parents shopping kids to the courts. Is he envisioning Elian Gonzalez type showdowns? I’m not sure “shopping” is the word when a squad of London Met types kick in your front door looking for your kid….