My local MP sent me a letter containing the following: “…the trial Youth Boot Camp Diversion Program aim to reduce the likelihood of young people falling into a life of crime. The trial Youth Boot Camp Diversion Program will see juveniles, convicted of offenses, which would otherwise merit custodial sentences, diverted into an intensive three-month program.”

Boot camps are of questionable value for offenders. I have been in the army. Such training is effective in creating close knit fighting units which will obey orders promptly and without question. In the past offenders have sometimes been given the choice of the armed forces or prison. In general they make bad soldiers. Offenders need to be integrated into civil life. They need to be given the mental tools to make wise choices - eg to refuse to join a gang, to get into an apprentice program or higher education, to choose between political alternatives etc. Democratic society needs people who will ask questions more than it needs those who will follow orders without question. I think boot camps should be out of the question for offenders.

Boot camps offer discipline and authority. That in itself may be part of the problem. The youthful offender may have had too much discipline and authority and too little love and kindness. Possibly love and kindness might be something to try. Let the offenders get up when they feel like and have some good food but require them to talk about their future and the choices they have to make. Hire knowledgeable older men and women who are capable of listening and suggesting alternatives without subjecting the offenders to any religious blather. Create relationships if possible so the offender can continue to discuss matters after he or she is released.

Start with a pilot program and compare the results of this sort of program with the boot camp approach. Boot camps are wide spread enough by now so there is probably adequate data.

It is my feeling that kindness and love would be much more effective at deterring crime than discipline and authority.

Could do a great deal of good David f.
Send the letters author to boot camp, may kick some sense in to him.

Boot camps don't work for everyone, but they do for many.

The point of them is to introduce structure into the youths lives with the concept of reward / consequences for their actions.

I don't think it's one or the other – they’re all good ideas.

I would suggest that boot camps (or similar exercises) teamed with the chats with a friendly uncle/aunt would provide a good balance. I would add education of good nutrition, drugs, etc as well as a healthy serve of community service.

David, when you say these young offenders had had too much “discipline”, I think you may be mistaking brutality (as some parents do). I think that true discipline comes from within and it can be nurtured in an appropriate forum or environment. Hence, the physical as well as the social/emotional ideas in concert will work well I think.

Dear Shadow Minister,

Structure imposed from the outside is usually resented. It is good to live a structured life, but a person should be encouraged to set up their own structure.

Dear Peter Mac,

Having experienced a boot camp i found the discipline in mine was largely an exercise of brutality. One expects in those sort of camps for a certain small percentage to go around the bend or commit suicide. Many of the others became toughened enough to become an effective fighting force. I think it's fair to assume that most youthful offenders are damaged goods or they wouldn't be offenders. I think they need healing more than any kind of discipline except for the requirement that they must talk with the counsellors.

Simple National Service will suffice. Reduce unemployment & rebuild common sense.
Those who are against it should volunteer to clean up & pay for damage done by irresponsible morons.