THE public is sick of reading headlines like “Feral gang sent down by judge” (Echo, June 3).
A massive industry, costing billions, has arisen processing offenders through the criminal justice system.
Lawyers, social workers, probation officers, court officials and many others are making a living from habitual petty offenders.
The police must be sick of processing the same career petty offenders, who contribute absolutely nothing to society, who are just a constant drain on the economic resources the nation.
In countries such as Saudi Arabia and Singapore, where prisons are not as comfortable as they are here, they do not have a rehabilitation problem, because there are far fewer offenders.
If we want to reduce crime we must make deterrence a priority over rehabilitation. We can start by making prisoners do real work for their food, such as digging ditches, and making prisons more of a spartan environment to live in.
Keith Dewison, Billingham.
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