TALKING to people today, their main worry is law and order, and whether the sentence fits the crime.

Hit and run accidents are common at present, as well as old people beaten senseless in their own homes, the fire brigade pelted with bricks as they fight fires, slabs of concrete thrown from motorway bridges. . .

The police do their job and the miscreants are brought before the courts, but then we get the usual spiel from the lawyers: "He was under the influence of drugs when he beat the old lady, but he is trying to beat the habit, and has shown remorse."

As for the hit and run, with no insurance and no MOT -- well, the driver was only 17 and can't be named, because he's underage and does not yet know right from wrong. The person who lies crippled in their hospital bed must wonder what justice is, when some learned judge gives the driver a sentence of, say, three years -- out in two to start his antics again.

Hanging, flogging and hard labour are part of history now, and so they should be. But when the welfare of the criminal comes before the welfare of the victim, something is surely wrong. Justice should be seen to be done.

John S L Evans

Howard Avenue

Deane

Bolton

Community Service? HAVE been a contributor to Reader's letters in the Bolton Evening News for more than 50 years on various subjects. To talk these crimes seem endless.