Brian Begg-Robertson wrote:
Well you can tell your good friend that I for one object to the fact that a
lot more money is now going to be spent on these scumbags having a thorough
education in every other type of crime. If you took your head out of the
pages of the Daily Mail once in a while you might discover that, in the real
world, PRISON DOESN'T WORK.

Indeed it doesn't, just like community service doesn't, a slap on the
wrist doesn't, trying to talk to them nicely and use psychology on them
doesn't and so on. In fact, the only thing that does work is the death
penalty - not necessarily deterring others, but stopping the convicted
person from reoffending at least. I suspect even Daily Mail readers
might consider killing someone for spray painting a train a little bit
harsh (or maybe not).

At least in prison, they're not doing any more harm to us. Maybe we
need to keep them in longer, even if that will cost you and me even
more? Or keep them inside but don't let them mix with others (making it
a VERY harsh environment) or feel that prison is just another way of
life for a few weeks/months/years.

I feel that once the crime has been committed, it's already too late to
try and fix things regardless of whether we try to be clever, or
severe. Society has got to the point where it's unlikely you'll get
punished for anything, therefore crime is tolerated (and it is, with
PCSOs and ASBOs doing very little to change things).

If we have a situation where these people decide to reproduce because
there's not much else to do, while others decide against children
because of careers, then the people with very little will be the ones
paying for our pensions in later years! God help us. (That's my little
Daily Mail like story for the day!)

Jonathan