Sir, If prison works as a deterrent, as claimed by David Green (Opinion, July 18), how does he account for the high rate of re-offending by former prisoners, or the fact that New York, with a lower rate of incarceration than Texas, has a much better record in reducing crime?

The most striking fact about the prison population, apart from its size relative to most of the developed world, is the high incidence of mental illness. Ninety-five per cent of young offenders have one mental health disorder; 80 per cent have two or more, as do 70 per cent of adults. It is here that attention needs to be focused, alongside a collaborative approach between councils and other agencies on the prevention of re-offending.

Councillor Sir Jeremy Beecham

Vice Chairman, Local Government Association

Sir, David Green is right that 22,000 additional offenders being in prison since 1997 has prevented the crimes they would have committed if not locked up; but they have probably been learning more skills from each other to continue their chosen career of crime when released from prison.

Green’s conclusion that increasing the number prison of sentences is the cause of the drop in recorded crime is flawed on many counts. There are likely to be other potential causal factors and the reliability of recorded crime figures is questionable.

More importantly, prison deters only those who can be deterred by other means. Most of those incarcerated can be stopped from re-offending by “restorative justice” which, if properly organised, is much more likely to reduce re-offending than incarceration.

Prison works only too well in activating our most primitive punitive and vengeful instincts, which are fuelled by the frustrations we experience and the increasing climate of fear generated by anti-terrorist policies.

Ruth Barnett

Clinical Director of Raphael Jewish Counselling Service

Sir, You report (July 17) the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, as saying that congratulations were in order over falling crime figures.

Congratulations are surely an overreaction. Apart from methodological difficulties underlying present crime figures, the plain fact is that many people do not bother reporting any but the most serious crime because of the pointless and platitudinous response this will inevitably elicit from the police. Once the police used to know their areas and investigate crime, which is what the public reasonably expects of them. Now it seems they spend most of their time on administration and the rest on targeting easy wins.

Nicholas Dobson

Leeds

Sir, Twenty years ago my garden shed was broken into and my children’s bikes were stolen. I reported the matter to the police and made a claim on my household contents insurance. The next year my insurance premium nearly doubled.

Five years later, the same thing happened again. Chastened by my experience, I did not make a claim but nevertheless reported the matter to the police. The next year my insurance premium nearly doubled again, the insurers having noted the “incident”. Five years later, the same thing happened again. I did not report the incident.

As chairman of our local Residents’ Association, I know that crime is rising. Yet we now hear that reported crime has fallen. I wonder why.

John R. Gregory

Manchester

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