Here come the lawyers.

After the abolition of the double jeopardy laws in the UK, it is noe possible to be tried for the same crime twice.

Read the full story on the BBC News Website

Time to get on my soapbox I think.

Why do kids or adults for that matter join gangs?

Experience from the US points to their being many underlying causes for gang membership.

• A sense of belonging, usually stemming from lack of parental control due to the breakdown of the traditional family unit. Members feel that their gang brothers and sisters are more of a “family” than their own.
• The opportunity to wield power. Some gang members feel a sense of powerlessness over their lives, lack of money and opportunities are cited as reasons for membership.
• Race Hatred.Still alive and flourishing no matter what gloss the Government puts on a multi-culturall society, most gang members seek power over other race group. This is not exclusively a white thing either, thye “yardie” culture in Birmingham for example.
• Rebellion against the establishment. Many feel as if the law is there to victimise them rather than protect society.
• Boredom.
• Access to illicit substances such as drink, drugs etc
• Intimidation. The you join us or face the consequences scenario.
• Easy money. Selling drugs or weapons, robbery where the victim is intimidated with threats of future violence.

Punitive sentencing may sound good and the public will obviously go for it as a fix, the Government will tout it as emphasising the fact that they are tough on crime.

Gang culture is nothing new, Victorians were plagued by it, read Oliver Twist for example or watch the magnificent Angels with Dirty Faces starring James Cagney nfor an example of 1930’s gang culture as seen through the eyes of Hollywood. The underlying causes of gang culture need to be addressed as well as sentencing policy or the problem will get worse.

Here’s the article.

After a spate of high-profile teenage killings in London, Home Secretary Jaqui Smith will address the damaging impact of gang-related crime on local communities .

“My priority is to protect and support the victims and witnesses of gun and gang crime,” Smith said ahead of her keynote speech.

“If this means an early guarantee that their identities will be protected then so be it. And if law enforcement authorities need new powers then they will have them ,” she said.

Senior police officers have warned that criminals are escaping justice by threatening communities, and it is hoped that by offering witnesses protection at an earlier stage they can convince them to give evidence.

The proposal is one of many set out in the government’s Tackling Gangs Action Plan.

Another recommendation will see a cash injection in a number of towns and cities to tackle knife-related crime.

Smith is also thought to be considering allowing judges to restrict the movements of gang members.

The government will also outline suggestions for schools to monitor the computer activity of suspected gang members and photographing graffiti tags.

What am I talking about?

The car chase.

Remember Starsky and Hutch and Chips?. Every week in these TV shows we knew that Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul were going to slide over the bonnet of their car or Ponch was going to make yet another spring crunching leap from an artificially created ramp cunningly disguised as a normal piece of Calafornia highway. It worked for them because it was highly visual. In the movies and on television that is what the audience react to. Visual stimului.

Can we create this in our novel?

There are only so many ways you can describe crunching gears and squealing, smoking tires. If you concentrate on the scenery, you slow down the action. The same for internal dialogue. The action has to be controlled by you the author sitting in the drivers seat.

A car chase takes longer to describe in a novel than it does to show on film. I normally steer clear of them in my writing and leave it to the film boys and girls who know how to deal with the subject.

If you can write a chase without using the words screaming (tires, passers by, passengers), smoking (tires) crunching (gears mut be a manual gearbox, those automatics like police cruisers just don’t cut it) then good luck. Me, I know when I’m beaten.

From the revolutionary Glock 17 which combined the features of an ordinary pistol with the firing speed of an automatic weapon, Glock handguns have now become standard throughout many law enforcement agencies around the world.

Glock now manufacture no less than 28 different models of pistol, they can be easily identified by the word “Austria” and the model number stamped on the left hand side.of the barrel.

Models, 17,19,21,22 and 23 are vitually identical whilst the Glock 24 has a longer 6 inch barrel.

Glock Models 26, 27,29 and 30 are snub nosed pistols having a shorter barrel than the standarrd 17 to 23 range.

Models 31 and 32 are visually similar to the 17 range.

The Glock 33 is visually similar to the 26 range.

Glock 34 and 35 are similar to the 24 having the longer barrel length.

The Glock 36 is a snub nosed pistol similar to the 26 range but has a smoother look.

Caliber of all pistols 9mm
Number of rounds 10

Glock Pistol Information

Things We’ve learned from the movies.