Am I the only person in Britain who feels that the rest of us have no moral obligation to the 'criminal underclass' whatsoever? If they didn't exist and represent such a crushing burden on us all I could work three days a week and spend more time with my (genetically valuable) offspring.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

I don't murder, rape, torture, steal etc etc. I also don't care if the people who do these things are physicaly exterminated. This makes me a wicked person who epitomises all that is evil. Those who persistently do all these things, however, are essentially good people who have gone astray.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

Only when there are many more prisons, chock full of sobbing lonely youth rotting in solitary, will I be able to believe that the authorities really care about the poor and the vulnerable. If you care about the poor, then do as they ask and take the criminals off their streets!

Daniel Heslop, Bournemouth, UK

I think we need both prevention AND punishment...

Cracking down on knife crime is necessary in the short term, but it will do little more than put people in prison - they'll be out before too long.
Prison time needs to be combined with a social agenda to prevent it happening in the future.

ChrisP, Sevenoaks/London, United Kingdom

You have to get in early while the infants brain is being formed and in the earliest years. From adoloescence on it is too late for the most impulsive and violent. They just have to be
locked up.The most hopeless parents really need to be asked to limit the number of children they have.

Ben, Nottingham, UK

Alice, you say it takes time. We have had about 40 years of it, two generations. I was a Det Sgt in Hackney in the 1970s, "knife crimes" was rare, though crime was not
Just how long before these "enlightened policies" are supposed to work ?.
"Mentoring "?, It certainly beats working.for a living

Peter Bolt, Redditch, UK

You're right, early intervention is what really works here.

There is plenty of research that shows that the pathways to crime a laid down by the age of 3.

We know how to respond to crime, but seem to lack the guts and patience to do so.

Jonu, London,

Why not put a 'chip' in every person; if it works for identifying dogs why not people?

With scanners in shops, schools etc. linked to CCTV you'd know who was where doing what, and could identify anyone at a crime scene etc.

Not PC enough? How'd you prefer to live; those with nothing to hide?

Terry, Bagneres, France

Complex problems do require complex solutions. Even so, some important principles are easily understood. David Cameron may be "both exaggerating and simplifying the problem," but he is right to emphasise the centrality of personal responsibility, as Alice Miles should more readily acknowledge.

Stephen Gold, Glasgow, UK

A loony left true believer, we have so much crime and violence because we have not had quite enough reaching out to the anti social, in order to reform them. Just a bit more understanding will get us there. Makes me glad I bailed out to Australia,where I can watch the lunacy from a safe distance

George , Perth, Australia

No progress is or is likely to be made on dealing with violence without tough jail sentences.
Deprive them of their liberty; put them in a cold cell; give them hard physical work and make them compensate their victims.
Wooly liberalism will never work.

Alan Hargreaves, Holywell, UK

Will Duffay,London.`Without considering the long term effects of such actions`.This has been the problem too much consideration has been given to the rights and effects on criminals.Can you not see the result?What has been the effect?Has crime been reduced?Criminals need more consideration-of course

Norman, Notts,

Yes, it will be 'got at' by the PC 'Bleeding Heart' Liberal Left who ponce the philosopy that 'Nobody is responsible for anything they do, because its someone elses fault!'

The CPS [Criminal Protection Society] will make sure any hard policies fail - we can't have criminals going to Jail now.

B Clark, Chelmsford, England

The evidence is that it is the probability of being caught that most deters potential offenders, not the severity of the sentence. A 90% chance of being fined deters people. A 0.01% chance of being hanged does not. Randomly jailing a few people who are caught with knives will not work.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Amazing progress? The statistics shows a steady rise in crime amongst the young - anecdotal evidence suggests the crime is even greater with much not being reported.

The current situation demonstrates comprehensive failure of policy. And you want more of the same!!! Yet more state intervention.

Mark, Berkhamsted,

Marek

Your maths is somewhat suspect.

Alex, London, England

What utter dimwits liberals always. Criminals are usually thoroughly nasty pieces of work, and not interested in or susceptible to being 'saved'. Those that are, will be, without spending millions on 'initiatives'. The means have always been there.
Face it. Some people are just nasty or plain evil.

Hilary, Telford,

Very sensible words. Well done Alice. As the other comments show, the Right would simply comdemn and bang 'em up, without considering the long term effect of such actions. It's time to grow up and approach this problem with subtlety and intelligence.

Will Duffay, London,

The problems are complex, and involve a lack of education and unskilled jobs, and too much overcrowding. To thrive people need a purpose in life, and space in which to achieve it, most of our sink estates offer neither. This in reinforced by generational welfarism. BUT, we need a quick solution.

fedupandenglish, Surrey,

Oh God,when will wishywashy liberals ever grow up?`Complex problems,require complex solution`,this has been the battle cry of the liberal trendie for the past fifty years-look at the results.Has crime gone down over this period?The solution is simple -bring back hanging for murder.

Norman, notts,

Shoplifting = crime = punishment
Fiddling expenses = crime = no punishment
Do what I say, not what I do = bad parenting

Steve, Brading,

These days a "senior police officer" IS a "softie liberal"-hense the change of name from Police Force to Police Service (as in Social Services).
More importantly, "complex solutions" may be the answer to some social problem BUT they take time. Knife crime for example needs action to save lives now.

Ian, Petersfield, UK

I don't know if Alice Miles (forgive the third person, I'm not sure how these things out to be addressed) was the author of the leading article yesterday concerning the "broken" society of today, but both that article and this one are rare for their insight and understanding.

Tom Butcher, Reading,

Sir

Enough please of this liberal psychobabble. The cause of crime is criminals. The way to stop crime is to get rid of the criminals.

It works today in Singapore, and it worked in Britain until the bleeding hearts took over.

Robert Firth, Singapore,

Utter rubbish.

J.Wilkes, Gloucester,

It looks like £100 million is going to be allocated to a programme aimed at "assisting" 110 thousand problem famillies, that is roughly a million per family. Could we save the money giving them let's say £100 000 per family on condition the kids would behave?

Marek, London,