To submit a letter to The Age , email letters@theage.com.au . Please include your home address and telephone number. No attachments, please include your letter in the body of the email. See here for our rules and tips on getting your letter published.

Better ways than jail

Jailing 14-year-olds for lengthy periods is totally unproductive unless we also put similar resources into crime prevention. It costs about $2.15 million a year for each person jailed, and you have to add in the opportunity costs as the young person will not be able to contribute productively to society even if rehabilitated when they are still in jail. We also know that incarcerated youth are highly likely to reoffend.

The massive cost of youth violence and other criminal behaviour to our society and economy is

See Full Page