Deporting undesirables

At the moment, the newspapers and, therefore, the politicians are in a state of agitation as regards the deportation of criminals when they have completed their sentences. Not, you understand Scots convicted in England or English criminals convicted in Wales, but people who are really ‘foreign', like Italians. There is a lot to be said for getting rid of people who have entered the country in order to commit crimes or who have no real connection with this country and who commit serious offences. But hysteria has been whipped up again by reason of a case before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, of a man of 27, Learco Chindamo who, when a youth of 15, stabbed and killed a very popular and successful headmaster, Philip Lawrence, who had been working at a school in a difficult area. This was an act which shocked everyone at the time. Like all murders, it was a terrible crime. The Home Secretary wishes to deport him to Italy on the grounds of public policy - the protection of the public - when, as is likely, he is released from prison on licence early next year. Learco was born in Italy of an Italian father and Phillipino mother. She left her very violent husband and came with her children to England when Learco was aged 5. In its judgement, the tribunal found as follows:     "As regards his links with Italy, they can really be said to be no more than the fact that he lived there for a few years when he was very young. He does not speak Italian, and does not have contact with his father, an Italian national, who it seems is either in prison in Italy or Spain or on the run from Interpol. It does not appear that the appellant has any other family in Italy". Learco says that he should be able to stay here, where his mother and brothers still live. They have visited him regularly in prison and have had frequent telephone conversations with him several times per week during the last 11 years. The Tribunal has decided that he should not be deported and everyone has started attacking the Human Rights Act for being good at providing rights but not at demanding corresponding responsibilities. Actually, the main reason for not deporting him is EU legislation relating to freedom of movement. The law on this subject is very complicated and the decision is sure to be appealed. The point is however that like every other lifer, he will only be released if and when the Parole Board says he is no longer a significant threat to the public. The prison authorities and the Parole Board are in fact unanimous in saying that he has changed very much for the better since being imprisoned. He appears to be showing genuine remorse for his actions. He can now read, and has passed a few GCSE's, whereas before he could not even spell his own mother's name properly. Mrs Lawrence is understandably upset that this young man is being released at all, after what he did to her husband. But in this country we do not keep people incarcerated for ever unless they continue to represent a substantial danger, as judged by the Parole Board - after all, one of the purposes of prison is that of reform and Learco may be one of the rare examples of its success. If he is now sent back to Italy, then he will have no knowledge of the language, no means of supporting himself, no family to help him and, if it is genuinely feared that he might return to a life of crime in this country, then how much more likely is it that he will do so in Italy? So what we are doing is passing on the problem, but in a much augmented form to Italy, and this in respect of someone who has been here since the age of 5. Surely as a society we cannot just dump people on other countries with which they have no more than the accidental connection of birth. If we did, and if Scotland ever does get independence, then we would have to set up a border crossing point for the exchange of convicts, rather like the one in Berlin at the height of the cold war, but a lot, lot bigger. We should be looking to do the best for the larger European society to which we belong, which in this instance coincides with doing the best for this young man - he should stay here. I really think we should grow up and admit finally that we are an integral part of a wider world.

 Home    Caro Diario   Philosophy   Who am I?      Links