While I would agree with Tom Wye (The Argus, November 26) that antisocial behaviour orders (Asbos) are not always the solution to crime and disorder associated with young people, I have to take issue with what he implies in his article.

He is not explicit about what the "severe punishment" he advocates as an alternative to Asbos might be.

If he is suggesting "short, sharp shock" tactics like the old-style "borstal" detention centres, they only served to brutalise young people and often led them into more serious crime later in life.

If he is suggesting, and I sincerely hope that he isn't, some kind of physical punishment, then he is wrong.

The "bring back the birch"

brigade will undoubtedly disagree, but using violence against people who have probably already experienced a great deal from a young age will not work.

Physical punishment has no place in modern society.

Many in the area I represent would take issue with his argument that those with "limited intellect"

will not respond to Asbos but "better educated and socially responsible types" might.

This kind of class-based analysis surely belongs in the 1950s, not the present day.

The Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum heard only this week how an interim Asbo placed on a local youth in September has worked.

Following a marked turnaround in his behaviour it has been withdrawn.

The Government has never set out to argue that Asbos are the only solution.

Acceptable behaviour contracts and restorative justice, for example where offenders make good the criminal damage they have caused or do community service with the people they have offended against, have been shown to be very effective.

However it is tackling the causes of crime, including poverty and lack of social cohesion, over the past ten years which is now having a fundamental effect.

According to Sussex Police, crime in Brighton and Hove is down 15 per cent over the past year, with 3,500 fewer crimes this year than last.

The Brighton and Hove Citizen's Panel, made up of 1,500 representative local residents, say people are feeling safer and fear of crime is diminishing.

Since the introduction of new licensing laws there has been a 13.6 per cent reduction in violent crime, with this type of crime on a downward trend year on year.

In Whitehawk there was just one burglary last month and levels of vehicle crime and criminal damage are down by almost three quarters on the same time last year.