ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to render more articulate the views held by those who support the routine arming of the British police and those who are vehemently opposed to such a move. Taking account of all the reservations, provisos, stipulations and conditions with which crime statistics must be viewed, there would seem to have been an increase in violent crime in this country, especially in the last few decades, but this increase might not be so great as the available figures suggest. Most observers have the impression, justified or not, that many of those who have taken the life of another ‘get away’ with being charged with manslaughter rather than murder. The Criminal Justice Act of 1967 removed this assumption that a reasonable person foresees the natural consequences of his acts and laid down that it is the actual intention at the time the offence is committed which is paramount.
