Anger won't make it better
Re Mr McVicar's comments on Monday:
Living in a community where everyone respected everyone else and their property would be very pleasant.
It's not happening when there are people in it who apparently regard some of their neighbours as animals.
And it's not going to happen with this
belief around either.
I've heard it said that the trouble with telling people they are animals is that in the end they will believe you.
Yes, we need to care for victims. Yes, offenders need to know they have broken a relationship with the community and have restitution to make.
But let's make sure they know they were in community, in relationship with the rest of us, in the first place.
Increasing cycles of callousness, anger and alienation cannot improve the situation.
I, for one, would love to hear speakers from outside the region comment on the outstanding collections of books in our library on humanitarian law (Red Cross collection) and on restorative justice (John Robson collection) and on efforts to build relationships and community, rather than label us as the home of draconian ideas.
C'mon the Bay indeed.
Pip Harrison, Hawke's Bay
Target abusers too
I agree with Garth McVicar's letter of May 30 about "trap, neuter and return" young thugs who burgle and ransack people's homes, but would go one step further and say that it should also apply to those who abuse and kill innocent children. (abridged)
Joy Dench, Havelock North
