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Fatal Arson Accused In Court

It's not often you get such an in-the-face reminder of the extremes of our society, but in the last week the residents of my area - Meersbrook - got just that. On Albert Road, S8, in the later hours of last Friday night, there was a huge house fire which killed two at the scene with one dying later in hospital, and as the fire was soon revealed to be arson this led to those deaths counting as murder. Needless to say the event has shocked the entire area - one which so many would militantly defend as being close-knit with great community spirit and a safe area.

The terrace in question contains a number of houses owned by friends and friends of friends, and my best friend and her family live just opposite.

As you will see from the article, two people have been arrested. The identity of the 17 year old has been revealed to me by a friend but obviously I can't say this on a public site any more than the press could. The woman in question is apparently notorious in the area and has been intimidating and terrorising neighbours for a significant period of time.

What's interesting about the case is that when the first I heard of it - on Radio 4 last Friday - and as it was national news it was just labelled as 'a murder and fire in Sheffield', I immediately presumed it would be an estate, an area renowned for such crimes, and many other (admittedly prejudicial) assumptions. How wrong I was. But why should I be surprised? Perhaps as a sociologist I know that social pressures lead to an increase in even pathological crimes, and those leading to such an act tend to (statistically) exist more in more deprived areas.

So, does it count as prejudice when there's evidence to show that our stereotypes really exist? And when one event bucks the trend - surely the sociological argument goes out of the window and the individual comes into play (so much for Durkheim)?

I think this story has brought many people to question their safety, and certainly myself to question my assumptions. Perhaps we all feel safer in our own area - the old N.I.M.B.Y. attitude that coccoons us into security.