I fear the author of this article is guilty of a little over-dramatisation.

Where 'mandatory sentencing' is or has been in effect, there is usually at least 1 chance, mostly 2, before an offender is given a custodial sentence. Now if you ask me, that's a pretty fair deal.

If you've been given opportunity to reflect on your misdeeds, told to 'sin no more' and you are stupid/arrogant/disrespectful/dishonest enough to go do the same thing again and yet again (and let's remember that much crime goes unsolved so chances are that offenders have previous 'form' that's gone undetected)then you DESERVE jail.

In a previous post unrelated to this comment I stated that the rattan cane as used to flog criminals in Malaysia would be a useful tool here for the lower end scale repeat offender. 5 - 10 stripes would pull a lot of wannabee toughs, thieves and vandals into line and deter recidivism big time. Anyone over the age of 12 who's been convicted for the 3rd and subsequent time to qualify.

Now I'll sit back and wait to read the howls of the do-gooder apologists who would have all crims protected from the force of the law and the victims of crime silenced at this suggestion. Unfortunately it's not likely to happen, Shame really. The threat, and occasionally application, of a burly coppers boot to the bum, and the possibility of parents hearing about it and doing likewise kept most of us honest and reasonably well behaved when I was growing up. Nowadays - little fear, respect or sense of responsibility.