> Why isn't there a bigger crackdown on such petty crime?
Many reasons.
1. UK prisons are already overflowing. Even violent criminals like rapists and murderers are only serving half of their sentences. When there were riots recently the government had to let many criminals go early just to make room for rioters. There is basically no room for petty criminals. The police know this which is why they don't even bother arresting petty criminals since they will just be let go free anyway.
2. U.K. police has been underfunded for decades at this point. There were severe cuts under the earlier Tory regime and now under the Labour regime it continues to be underfunded with the police chief suggesting to cut the number of police forces from 43 to 12. At this point the police basically do not care about any property crime since they prioritize violent crimes (rightly in my opinion).
3. British legal system and British society in general has trends that favor increase in crime e.g. loosening of social controls (loss of social stigmas etc) increased movement, freedom of movement (people move around more freely instead of staying in the same village their entire lifetime) lack of tracking, lack of interest in tracking (e.g. London has about same number of CCTV cameras as China yet Chinese government is able to use its camera to track criminals much more effectively than the British).
Could also talk about changes in society (loss of social capital aka Bowling Alone), increased immigration, changes in parenting (single parents etc) but those are topics of discussion for different time.
Many reasons.
1. UK prisons are already overflowing. Even violent criminals like rapists and murderers are only serving half of their sentences. When there were riots recently the government had to let many criminals go early just to make room for rioters. There is basically no room for petty criminals. The police know this which is why they don't even bother arresting petty criminals since they will just be let go free anyway.
2. U.K. police has been underfunded for decades at this point. There were severe cuts under the earlier Tory regime and now under the Labour regime it continues to be underfunded with the police chief suggesting to cut the number of police forces from 43 to 12. At this point the police basically do not care about any property crime since they prioritize violent crimes (rightly in my opinion).
3. British legal system and British society in general has trends that favor increase in crime e.g. loosening of social controls (loss of social stigmas etc) increased movement, freedom of movement (people move around more freely instead of staying in the same village their entire lifetime) lack of tracking, lack of interest in tracking (e.g. London has about same number of CCTV cameras as China yet Chinese government is able to use its camera to track criminals much more effectively than the British).
Could also talk about changes in society (loss of social capital aka Bowling Alone), increased immigration, changes in parenting (single parents etc) but those are topics of discussion for different time.