Censorship is always a tricky subject. There have been a lot of cases in the press in the past year about people committing serious sexual crimes, including child rape, because they were obsessed with violent pornographic films. It is tempting therefore to argue that violent pornographic films should be illegal. (Maybe they already are. I'm not sure.)
A related news item is the attempted murder of a homeless man in Newport in Wales by two teenagers. The crime is being likened to the film A Clockwork Orange in which a homeless man is attacked by teenagers. This film was withdrawn from circulation in this country for many years by its producer and director Stanley Kubrick following at least three apparent cases of copycat violence.
So far as I am aware, there is no reason to think that either of the teenage attackers in Newport were influenced by Kubrick's film. What I am sure about is that as a society we should not be listening to excuses where serious violent crime is concerned.
People who commit rapes or attempted murders should be punished severely. Whether or not their criminal behaviour was influenced by violent pornography or 1970s films is not a matter which should have any impact on the sentence handed down by the judge.
Yes, and there's only one punishment for these kine of scum- a short piece of rope.
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