A call for mandatory life sentences for child abductors was made by Steve Fuller (Letters, December 29).

The timing coincides with more calls in papers such as The News Of The World for tightening laws against paedophiles and even locking them up without convicting them of crimes.

I doubt this would serve the interests of justice and my reasons might (or might not) appeal to some.

In the United Kingdom, a crime is committed every six seconds and often involves unmitigated violence. A divorce takes place every five minutes. Every week, a British child is killed by a parent or guardian.

I do not think a society which harbours crime and domestic violence on the scale which occurs today will gain much benefit overall by locking up indefinitely those who might otherwise commit a particular category of serious offences. I want to see a more stable society first.

-Roger Barnett, Harvey Court, Redhill