Wikipedia defines “human nature� as;

human nature is the fundamental nature and substance of humans, as well as the range of human behavior that is believed to be invariant over long periods of time and across very different cultural contexts.

In Jersey a scandal has emerged.

Firstly, there is abundant evidence of serious child abuse in Haut de la Garenne children’s home. Human remains have been found in the premises.

Secondly, the police are interviewing former child inmates and other witnesses relating to the premises and have made the following statement;

Part of the inquiry will be the fact that a lot of the victims tried to report their assaults but for some reason or another they were not dealt with as they should be,� he said.

We are looking at allegations that a number of agencies didn’t deal with things as perhaps they should, we are looking at all the agencies.�

Should we not ask; was the police force one of the agencies?

The police statement is itself misleading. The police investigate crime (we hope); is it a crime to neglect your duty? If it is not, why are the police suggesting that they are investigating “the agencies�? Is that not a PR stance by the police?

The title of this post is not a reference to the capacity for evil by individual abusers, but the incorrigible tendency for institutions to be corrupted and to pervert their original purpose. In short, there is an appreciable probability that, in any particular case, an institution charged with a purpose will be used to defeat that purpose.

Consider this; in the writer’s experience when the word “independent� is associated with the title of any institution, it is invariably the case that the institution is not “independent�.