Brian Begg-Robertson wrote:
Oh for God's sake, listen to yourselves! You just harden people like that by
giving them the birch.

We've never had it so bad. Anti social behaviour (which I'd probably
have to say that graffitti falls into) is way out of control because
there's no punishment. ASBOs aren't enforced and community support
officers are laughed at by both criminals AND real police. Now we're
supposed to let shoplifters off with community service (that less than
50% of people actually do) and hope that makes them feel relieved
enough to 'think about what they've done'.

Look at car crime, with people driving while banned, uninsured or
without a licence. They keep getting caught over and over, with
millions of points and a ban that lasts until they're 200 years old. It
doesn't deter them. However, when the police got the power to crush the
cars they were in, finally they begin to learn in their primitive way
that they might still be at liberty, but they can't actually break the
law again (at least that's the theory, if we didn't ditch traffic cops
for static cameras that can't do anything but send out a speeding
ticket to a ficticious address).

In some cases, an alternative look at punishing people is a good idea.
But if they're out terrorising people or damaging property, you MUST
take them off the street. If we don't, then in years to come we don't
need to worry about terrorists, because the streets will be complete
anarchy. Honest, law abiding citizens will stop hiding behind their
curtains and take the law into their own hands.

Lock them up, throw the key away, pretend that it will make them better people. It
wont!

If you threw away the key it would! They would NEVER get out in that
case. Forget whether it deters anyone else turning to a life of crime;
you've at least dealt with the problem in hand.

Jonathan