Madam, - Diarmuid Kearney of the National Youth Federation (June 7th) is both wrong and misleading about anti-social behaviour orders.
Asbos will not lead to the criminalising of young people. They will help protect decent people from the threat of thuggish and threatening behaviour in their communities. Asbos will not discriminate between young and old.
Why is it that certain organisations which cry out for more protection for the victims of crime suddenly go silent when the Minister for Justice announces the most radical proposal to give real power to victims of crime? Is it because they have a warped view that cuddling the criminal will somehow stop anti-social behaviour?
I would like to congratulate Michael McDowell on his excellent proposals. I only wish that whingers such as the National Youth Federation and some Fianna Fáil backbenchers were not so soft on crime. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KENNY,
Moran's Cottages,
Ranelagh,
Dublin 6.