I welcome county council leader Keith Mitchell’s apparent support for non-custodial sentences for some offenders.

However, his proposed alternatives seem crude, impractical and counter-productive.

Martin Roberts and William Morris (Oxford Mail ViewPoints, July 12) rightly oppose Mr Mitchell’s proposal to inflict young unemployed squatters on the Army.

National Service benefited some individuals. However, two-year conscripts made very unsatisfactory forces, often under-prepared for the service they bravely gave in combat. Commanders were relieved when conscription ended in 1960.

A mature, reflective politician would accept the wisdom from Messrs Roberts and Morris and respond with a better idea.

Instead Mr Mitchell retorted by derogatorily stereotyping Mr Roberts, thus both personalising and lowering the debate (ViewPoints, July 16).

Now Mr Mitchell proposes that thieves who crippled and endangered the Great Western main line on August 6, by stealing railway signal cables, should be “put… in the stocks and… commuters… throw rotten fruit at them” (Oxford Mail, August 11).

Trying to humiliate offenders doesn’t work. For example, Asbos sometimes protect crime victims but among offenders’ peer groups, an Asbo is taken as an honour. Short prison sentences are also taken as an honour, and all too soon leave victims unprotected after offenders are released.

In the US, bright orange clothing is meant to humiliate offenders on community sentences but some wear it with pride.

Some members of today’s Conservative Party are considering bold forward-thinking ideas to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour. They could start by challenging the poor example set by Mr Mitchell’s boorish bar-room remarks. Hugh Jaeger, Park Close, Oxford