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I ACCEPT that some offences warrant custody ('Out of control', Inside Story, 14 February), yet I feel these are in the minority. People who offend are human beings and we live in a humane society. For the life of me I can't understand why society's misfits or petty criminals are, on the whole, eventually incarcerated when in fact they could be screaming for attention. York Court Probation Centre in Avon gave me that attention. At York Court when you do something well you are praised for it. That is a fact not an opinion. I know this as I'm completing a six-month intensive rehabilitation programme which includes acquiring cognitive skills, aims, goals, achievements, self-respect, and respect for others.
I'm an offender with a bad criminal record, including one long-term sentence. In the six months I've been on this course as an alternative to prison I haven't dropped litter, let alone committed an offence. This works.
L P Traynor
Bristol, Avon
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A worrying new face of the terror threat to the UK
Kim Sengupta -
Grace Dent: I’m not sure how these people can avoid being called ‘bigots’. And the more ‘civilised’, the worse they are
Grace Dent -
After woman sells virginity for $780,000, here are the results of our prostitution survey
Laura Davis -
The Daily Cartoon
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Woolwich attack: The EDL might have a sinister plan as a soldier is murdered in suspected Islamic terrorist attack
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