CRIME and punishment? Yes and no! The root cause of robbery and burglary in our present society is leniency -- the fault of the judicial system and the politically-correct attitude that the criminal is more in need of help than the victim.

Instead of jail being a deterrent, the politicians have weakened the system with calls for relaxed laws, shorter sentences, and early release of prisoners.

Early release, wrapped up with 'tagging,' is being fed to the public as an aid to rehabilitation of criminals. Yet, this simply empties cells for new offenders at the expense of justice and the victims of crime.

We are expected to accept that the public is safer by releasing prisoners early, simply because 'tagging' decreases the number of reoffenders. What a ridiculous argument.

Why not eliminate early release and insist on 'tagging' for a minimum of three months at the end of sentences? The answer, of course, is that the Government has failed to respond to the increasing crime rate by building more prisons.

For this, we, the public, will pay while criminals prosper. My burglar, a drug addict convicted of 24 offences, was given 12 months, was released after five and continues to live next door to me, a constant threat to my family and property.

B WOODS (address received)