WITH regards to the possible imprisonment of graffiti artist Alan Crosby, announced in your article on March 17, I find it impossible to remain silent.

You repeatedly refer to Crosby with - in my opinion - appalling, disrespectful language, branding an enthusiastic and creative artist as a "yob".

How can you describe him in such derogative terms with no experience of his personality or behaviour? How do you know that he is not an intelligent and diligent practitioner?

All you have to go on is the fact that Crosby works in a field you do not appreciate. It is the act of graffiti writing you object to.

You report district judge John Sawyer's opinion that Crosby "leaves a blot on the landscape".

However, many people appreciate graffiti as an art form that enhances the urban landscape.

York does well to support a thriving hip hop scene, given its white, middle-class population.

Whether or not graffiti is an immoral invasion of space and property, it is widely appreciated, and Crosby is applauded in York.

If Crosby is sent to prison, then our legal system will deprive the local cultural scene of talent.

Young people who are angry and without a voice often turn to a means of expression that some find offensive, such as graffiti, and if any are vulnerable to being swallowed into the world of crime, it is young hiphop fans.

The culture that surrounds hiphop often glorifies crime, leaving new practitioners impressionable. Sending a more-or-less harmless petty criminal such as Alan Crosby to jail will only surround him with more serious crime.

A graffiti writer could be imprisoned for several years - an equal sentence to that of dangerous, malign offenders. Where is the sense or justice in that?

Alex Brandon-Davies,

Huntington Road, York.

Updated: 11:26 Wednesday, March 23, 2005