Most Irish people would have agreed with the sentiments expressed by the Irish Ambassador to Switzerland, James Sharkey, regarding Manuela Riedo, writes Breda O'Brien
There was indeed a "sense of devastation and loss for one so innocent, so young and so beautiful".
There was a genuine outpouring of grief, sparked by a sense of shame that a visitor to our country who was scarcely more than a child should meet her death in such a cruel way.
In contrast, when crime victims are not innocent or beautiful, but instead are hardened criminals, we have almost come to the stage where we shrug.
No one grieves much for "scumbags killed by scumbags", in the memorable phrase of an anonymous garda. Certainly, so-called gangland crimes make headlines, and prompt promises of ever-more draconian laws, but there is nearly a sense that these people inhabit such a dark and vicious world that their actions have no connection to the rest of us.
However, a closer look at our murder statistics shows that they span all sectors of society, and even gun crimes are by no means confined to criminals operating in some kind of violent parallel universe. Alcohol is implicated as much or more than drugs in violent deaths.
A landmark study by Dr Enda Dooley that reviewed all the cases of homicide over a 25-year period showed that in about half of the cases, the victim or perpetrator or both were drunk at the time of the killing.
Furthermore, the consumption of recreational drugs by the newly affluent middle classes is simply the end of a supply chain that leads inexorably back to the bloodied hands of the criminals who allegedly are so unconnected to civilised society.
Fr Tony O'Riordan SJ, of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, has an even more disturbing hypothesis.
He believes that the values shown in some of the gangs are a warped reflection of values that are rewarded in other sectors of society.
Obviously the manifestation is much more gruesome and lethal, but the entrepreneurial spirit, ruthlessness and elimination of rivals practised by some criminals are an eerie echo of the individualism and competitiveness practised with little or no regard for others in mainstream Ireland.
He has been involved for years in working with young offenders, and believes that we are not doing enough to break a well-known pattern of young men becoming involved in gang culture.
Our prisons are full of young men serving short sentences, sometimes as short as weeks, for petty crime related to their chaotic lifestyles, whether it be drug or alcohol addiction, mental health problems, homelessness or a combination of all of them. One young man he spoke to recently could not remember how many short terms he had served in a year, with no discernible impact on his patterns of behaviour.
For many of them, the next step up from petty crime to feed a habit is being drawn into gang culture at the lowest level, perhaps acting as drug couriers. Once in, it becomes more and more difficult to extract oneself.
It costs €90,900 to keep a prisoner in jail for a year. Imagine if we stopped filling our prisons with people convicted of petty crime, and instead started tackling the underlying problems. To give just one example, there are long delays in getting on to methadone programmes. Not that methadone is a panacea, but for many people it is a stepping-stone.
Detoxification is the next step after a maintenance programme, to get the body clean of drugs. Tony O'Riordan says that detoxing often allows a person to experience emotions that were buried by drug addiction, including shame for what they have done to others. Facing up to the reality of the harm that they have caused is a lot more difficult than serving a short sentence in a responsibility-free prison, knowing that you will shortly be spat out into the same circumstances that got you there in the first place.
There are only 27 detox beds in the whole country. Certainly, people can detox in the community, but it is much more difficult. Most addicts then require nine months to a year of drug treatment to treat the psychological and other underlying dimensions of addiction.
In his experience, 95 per cent of offenders are eager to leave the criminal lifestyle behind but lack both the personal skills and support systems to do so. He sees particular hope for teenagers. Aside from a small number with serious mental health problems, he has never met a teenager unwilling to engage with constructive help. For some of them, boundaries come as a relief.
If timely interventions do not happen, a downward spiral into crime is almost inevit-able. He spoke of one young man telling him that it came to a stage where it was a case of kill or be killed.
This young man chose to kill, and was convicted. When it comes to that point, the only conceivable response is to convict and lock up someone who is so dangerous.
It is crucial to intervene long before this stage. Much more research is needed into the causes of crime. We have a habit in this country of knee-jerk reactions. Look at anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos). There was a mad rush to get them into operation, but by early October, not one had been applied by gardaí.
There is a danger that we will heap laws upon laws, but that the fundamental problems will remain unaddressed. Certainly, measures such as witness protection schemes would encourage people to come forward with evidence, as would better Garda relations with the most disadvantaged communities.
How do we reconnect vulnerable, bitter and alienated young men to positive options? Prison isn't working. Beginning early enough, family support and community education aimed at helping dysfunctional families to function would cut off many problems at the root.
A lot of work with teenagers in trouble with the law is akin to reparenting people who have never experienced stable families in the first place.
We grieved, rightly and understandably, for the loss of so much potential in Manuela's short life.
It is a shame that we seem unable to grieve so easily for the loss of potential in so many young lives that are facing only addiction, homelessness and a spiral of involvement in crime.