SIR: We have seen, for some considerable time now, a failure and lack of responsibility on the part of the judicial system to use the full power of the laws available during cases of criminal violence.

It would appear that lawyers and juries alike give favour to the criminal elements and, instead of ensuring a commital sentence is justified and carried out, many violent thugs go free! One wonders why there is such utter contempt for the system of law and order within the law procedure.

Is it because of fear from threats or the profession itself ensuring a prolonging of cases in order to incur greater financial rewards from legal fees. Possibly both.

The law is supposedly there to protect society and not for the benefit of a greed infested few within that profession.

It is time Parliament took a very long, hard look at those scales of justice. I fancy they're weighed down with corruption, contempt and greed!

But, where you have corruption within the police and law professions both, then society itself questions right and wrong.

Robert Anderson, Thaxted Place, Bolton.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.