THE problem with sending petty thieves to prison is that prison turns petty thieves into professional felons.

Very few, if any, are reformed and so, by confining criminals together for long periods of time, we are actually making matters worse in the long term.

But the alternative of classing burglaries, muggings, car theft, shop lifting etc. as crimes of "low seriousness" and discharging offenders is not the answer.

A completely opposite attitude should be taken by the Judicial Studies Board and magistrates and district judges should be advised that zero tolerance is now the order of the day and offenders must be made aware of the seriousness of their crimes through severe sentencing.

In the long term, however, we should ask ourselves why there are so many young offenders these days. Recently I read that a high percentage of these people were under-educated. Some couldn't read while many had a literacy age of just six or seven.

It would appear then that we have failed in our duty to give these youngsters the decent education that would enable them to become decent adults.

Education chiefs need to ponder on this unacceptable situation, and legislation must be brought in to eradicate this criminal wastage of young lives. Discipline must be brought back into our schools.

We cannot continue to turn our backs on the problem children, allowing them to drift through school, only to become problem parents of even more problem children.

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton