Our violent society - Make them pay the price

IT is a recurring theme of social commentary that society is becoming ever more violent.

Diarists of the 17th century felt, even then, that a Rubicon had been crossed and that society would not last much longer in the face of gratuitous violence, physical or verbal.

A lot of that commentary was based on fear and misunderstanding but today we would be foolish to discount such claims without recognising that there are at least some questions to be answered.