Embarrassing jackets to fight crime...

Drawn up by Louise Casey, the former head of the government Respect Unit, a report to be officially released this week will carry the blessing of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, and will hopefully serve the purpose of restoring the public's faith in the criminal justice system.

Theoretically, this ideal will be achieved via a series of punitive measures that will publicly humiliate or embarrass young offenders to a degree that they may not be particularly comfortable with. Plans include making people serving community sentences wear bright yellow jackets so that they can easily be identified as criminals by other member's of the public, as well as posters being displayed around the neighbourhood that will also brand them as undesirables.

Though the tough new plans will also involve other measures such as allowing members of the public to have Internet access to details of court hearings and so forth, it seems that, considering the amount of self-promoting young hoodlums that can be seen flexing their muscles or ample cleavages on Myspace, Bebo, or Face Book these days, the public flaunting of negative characteristics may be just the thing that the Government needs in order to change the way that 'criminals' see the world. We're sure that that's the theory, at least.

On the other hand, the moves could be one step closer from regeneration and another one closer to that Orwellian nightmare that everybody keeps getting excited about...