Letter: The death of James Bulger; imprisonment of young offenders; causes of criminality

Sir: The headline 'How to create more criminals' to the leading article today could hardly be more misleading. The proposal to keep some juveniles in secure accommodation for up to two years is intended to deal with ready-made criminals, who are a product of the failure of the system to cope with persistent offenders. It may well be true that keeping them in custody will not reform them but society will have a well-deserved rest from their activities.

The system copes quite adequately with the vast majority of young offenders and, in particular, I pay tribute to my colleagues who work very hard in this field and have helped to divert thousands of youngsters from the juvenile justice system. For the hard core, who may well amount to no more than 200-400, as you say, the punishment becomes appropriate. If they offend on release that is not the failure of the system, it is their choice.

Yours faithfully,

R. B. COYLES

Vice-Chairman

Police Federation

Surbiton, Surrey

17 February