There was a minor public relations stunt only a week or so ago when it was highlighted that a couple of mentally ill patients had murdered. There was of course no mention that this government has drastically reduced services for the mentally ill which no doubt played a role in the murders.
There is an even bigger 'chipping stunt in the pipeline. The number of prisoners is larger than the number of prison spaces. So waddya do? 'Chip 'em. This kind of problem does not appear over night. It has been cultivated as a problem that will require a solution. A solution of technology.
From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/17/ncrime17.xml
Radical measures for tackling crime - ranging from monitoring the behaviour of the mentally ill with radio chips to hormone injections for sex offenders — are to be considered by the Government in a wide-ranging policy review ordered by Tony Blair.
...The policy review programme, which Mr Blair told his monthly Downing Street press conference had generated "real enthusiasm" across government, will be seen as his attempt to ensure that Mr Brown does not backtrack when he takes over.
...The most controversial paper dealing with law and order acknowledges that there will have to be "trade-offs" between liberty and security as technology and profiling are used to reduce crime.
...The policy paper confirmed the Government's objective of creating a surveillance society despite Mr Blair's denials of a "Big Brother" state. It said new anti-crime measures include face and voice recognition, a DNA database, identity cards, microchip monitoring and satellite surveillance — and confirmed that Britain has the most public CCTV systems in Europe.
...America is said to be "favourably disposed" towards preventing drug addiction through heroin and cocaine vaccination. It is also considering "more sophisticated" monitoring techniques, including a trial of "radio frequency identification chips" for the mentally ill.
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