THERE are two things I would like to see happen to help reduce crime in our increasingly dangerous land.

I would like to see metal detectors installed on every busy entrance from supermarkets to schools, to help identify and eliminate knife and gun crime. Secondly, one cannot help but see communities are rapidly drifting apart.

Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s everyone said hello and shared little conversations which showed they really cared. But now people pass each other by like zombies from Zuesse.

I must admit our northern area has a long way to go to equal London life, but I'm convinced attitudes are rapidly developing towards the Southern England ways. We should recognise London is the capital of crime as it is indeed the capital of isolation.

Not so very long ago everyone knew everyone. Now in a time, not so very far away, no one will know anyone.

So my second wish is for neighbours to work together by simply talking more, just like the safer old days gone by.
Jim Chambers,
Washington

Look at evidence
THIS letter is in response to Neil Atkinson's letter crticising my letter about the criminal justice system.

Here is an extract from my letter (June 13): "Unlike the relations of victims of crime or survivors of crime, most people who express an opinion on sentencing or on the police or on probation or the courts have not attended at court to see how it operates or asked questions of the various agencies who prosecute and monitor convicted criminals. Informed comment is always more interesting to listen to than a rabid rant."

My comments were quite clearly directed to those people who comment upon criminal justice and who don't have any understanding of it. I excepted the victims of crime and their relations from my comments.
Neil Atkinson, in his letter to the Echo, chose to ignore that.

Every British subject has the right to say what he or she thinks (within certain parameters). What weight or worth could a comment upon sentencing have if the maker is unaware of what the system prescribes and dictates?

Victims do have a voice – Mr Atkinson's organisation and others, along with newspapers, the broadcast media and the police and other agencies, as well as the practice of including a Victim Personal Statement on each witness statement. How many organisations – by name – respect prisoners? How many represent victims?

Murderers are not released early under the current sentencing regime. Dangerous offenders are not released until the Parole Board is satisfied they are no longer a danger.

Nor do I agree, as I have not seen any evidence for it, that prisoners have advantages in accessing legal, social, medical or educational support in prison that is superior to what is on offer to anyone who is not in prison.

I have nothing to be ashamed about. What is a shame is that Mr Atkinson did not read my letter carefully and then sought to embarrass me in public. I am happy to have sensible debate with anyone about the Criminal Justice System – based upon facts and evidence and personal experience.
Michael Robinson,
Emmersons Solicitors

Proms are just fine
FROM my seat on the No. 20 (the regular bus service, not one my mother had hired for the occasion!), which took me to the Hylton Red House prom the other day I briefly caught a glimpse of a helicopter passing overhead on its way to the Ramside Hall.

Little did I know what a righteous (or should that be self-righteous?) fury would be stirred up in its wake, until I read Linda Colling's column on July 4. She doesn't just object to the helicopter but to the whole prom phenomenon.

Might I suggest that she talks to some of the people who attended that prom, or to their parents?

I heard tales of the whole estate buzzing with excitement on the day of the prom, of parents shedding tears of pride at the sight of their daughters (and perhaps even sons), dressed in their finery.

Maybe some kept their heads down, unable or unwilling to join in with the razzmatazz, but does that mean everyone should be denied their big night?

I am not ashamed to admit that I was one of the teachers whose chests swelled with pride at the way in which our school leavers conducted themselves on the night, and at how they have turned out after five years at the school. I imagine many of them knew that they will remember this as one of the big nights of their lives, and they will be grateful to their parents for making it possible.

Maybe Linda Colling sees these young people differently. She made that clear enough by throwing in some of the usual stereotypes just in case we didn't get her message: they swear a lot, and after the prom they put their glad rags away and revert to being hoodies – and as we all know, hoodies are dangerous.

Me, I'm looking forward to next year's prom already.
S Newman,
Tunstall,
Sunderland