I refer to your series of articles "York's Troubled Streets." It appears from these that unsociable behaviour and petty crime begins at an early age and I suggest most parents should accept they had lost control over their child if he or she was constantly getting into trouble and involved with the police.

Why not put these parents on probation? Not as punishment but as a means of establishing what was going wrong in the home, giving advice and support and, if necessary, forcing them to accept their parental responsibilities.

Baroness Warnock once said: "There are no bad children, only bad parents."

These same parents may not have had the benefit of a good parental role model but given the opportunity may welcome the chance to acquire skills to help their children develop into responsible adults.

Many families in problem areas are second or third generation. Unless these problems are dealt with at source - in the home - then anti-social behaviour, crime and disorder will be perpetuated. Valuable police time and resources will be taken up dealing with youngsters whose parents are unwilling or incapable of exerting any form of control over them.

Name and address supplied.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.