[Scarlett]

Originally Posted by Graham

Because "punishment" on its own, in and of itself, does little to prevent or discourage re-offending. Education and rehabilitation have a better chance of achieving this IMO.

Even thugh I agree with Ramrods subsequent post. Im getting onto the soap box again (three times in one night* must be a record)

I think the issue is that the system makes no distinction between hard core criminals and somone who has 'slipped' on to the wrong side of the rails.

It appears that current system of Justice is designed to bring everyone convicted down to the same level and quite simply, They seem to be trying to reach the lowest common denominator. As they say, the IQ of any mob is the lowest IQ of any person involved divided by the number of people in the mob*.

In response, yes I do believe that people should be punished but there are many ways to do that.

You should look to make sure that they have oppotunity to a) repay there debt to society and b) that we try to reform them into valuable members of society.

After all what would YOU prefer;

1) The crimnal who has nicked a couple of cars and ends up in prison for 6 months where he learns a lot more than how to force locks on a toyota and comes out to reoffend.
2) The criminal who has nicked a couple of cars and ends up in prison for 6 months where he learns how to repair cars and leaves after 6 months to work in garage and spends the rest of his life there paying taxes and being a good citizen.

*Smut - sorry, couldn't help myself.