Sir, - I write in reference to Mr Vincent Browne's column of July 24th, regarding the proposed changes to our legal system aimed at combating crime. I agree with his general point that we should be careful not to over react in this area. For the most part he argued his case reasonably, and I was informed by the statistics he quoted. However, he destroyed his own personal credibility with his final paragraph, where he suddenly went completely ballistic.
Mr Browne asked: "Why should young unemployed, unemployable, alienated males from these suburban slums respect the `rights' of us middle class folks to our private property? All the more so when the crimes committed by us middle class folks - tax evasion and corporate crime - almost never give rise to any investigation, charge, conviction or imprisonment?"
This is nonsense. Mr Browne is saying that one is (or should be) subject to legal and moral codes only in proportion to the "advantages" of one's personal circumstances. There might be some logic in his point if we lived in some totalitarian polarised feudal system. But social conditions in Ireland are far removed from that, and provide no excuse for anyone to commit crimes against his/her neighbour. - Yours, etc.,
Waterfall,
Co Cork.