mick,

imho it's a question of nature or nurture. if a teenage thug has been brought up by a pair of abusive alchoholic parents who only view their child as something that entitles them to benefits then it is / should be society's job to attempt to straighten the kid out - in fact they should have stepped in earlier imho but that's another argument.

my point is that if the thug knows no better and cannot see themselves doing anything else other than breaking and entering for a living then they should be given the opportunity to turn themselves arround. this shouldn;t be done in the community but in an environment where their growing pains wouldn;t hurt anyone - a remote scottish island perhaps? then when they return they have their records locked and effectively a clean slate. also they should be banned from returning to their old area for 5 years too. if they offend again then they are thown in jail and must work to pay off all the resources squandered on them during the initial phase.

that way you end up with less feckless 30-40 year olds who have been in prison for 20 years who know nothing else except breaking and entering and who've probably learnt a whole load of new tricks whilst inside.

cheers

julian