[JURIST] A recent UK Home Office [official website] report [text part 1, part 2, PDF] prepared for Prime Minister Tony Blair [JURIST news archive] details the country's first increase in crime since the mid-1990s and predicts a massive 25% increase in its prison population over the next five years, according to the Sunday Times. The report also observes a growing gap between Britain's poorest and wealthiest residents and details a lack of cohesion among ethnic groups contributing to an upward crime trend. It makes suggestions for reducing crime including heroin vaccinations, a ban on alcohol advertising, chemical castration, ID chip implants, public shaming, parenting classes, and the use of bounty hunters. To increase cohesion in society, the report suggests a ban on face-obscuring veils [JURIST news archive] in schools.

The content of the leaked memo is embarrassing for Blair's Labour Party [party website], which claims to be tough on crime. It predicts "there is still little chance that a crime will be detected and result in a caution or conviction" and states that nine out of ten crimes were either not responded to or went unpunished. The Sunday Times has local coverage.