Where is the proof that things like tougher sentencing, more cctv etc. help lower violent crime? Does the death sentence (a rather tough punishment in my view) in the US lower crime there? Does the fact that we have more CCTV than the rest of Europe put together help lower crime here? I think the main problem, as has been noted, is our pathalogical fear of crime. For examle, whilst we do have one of the highest rates of violoent crime in Europe, so does Norway, which is consitently found to have one of the happiest populations in the world. Fear of crime and actual crime are not always linked. Tougher sentencing, more cctv etc. seems like a sensible, common sense answer to the lowering of crime, but I am yet to be convinced by an argument that it actually works.