Letters: Vengeance must have no place in moral crusade

Sir: It is terrible that it has taken a tragedy such as the death of headmaster Philip Lawrence for people to realise that we must rethink where society is going, and how it treats its young people.

A huge number of young people have been allowed to drop out of mainstream society and are now excluded from it. Some are homeless, some cannot read or write and many commit crime because "society" has no meaning for them. These are the people the probation service sees as adults.

The probation service does not have all the answers. Nor does the education service. It is only through a more co-ordinated, imaginative and practical approach by a whole series of agencies, both in the voluntary and statutory sectors, that many young people will be helped.

Deterrent punishments, threats and containment in custody will satisfy a desire for revenge and give the illusion that the problem of crime is being dealt with. But they do nothing to tackle the underlying reasons young people offend. We know from our experience that unless you challenge a lifetime of damaged thinking and equip people with the means to gain their stake in society, you will change nothing.

I am concerned that this much-needed call for a more moral society ("The new crusaders", 22 October) will become a twisted justification for attitudes of condemnation and vengeance which will only alienate these young people even further. It would be the greatest irony if a campaign sparked by the loss of a man who cared deeply for young people were to turn away from positive values.

ROGER STATHAM

Chief Probation Officer, Cleveland Probation Service

Middlesbrough