I recall reading a recent news article about a stabbing at a large party in an Australian capital city. I seem to recall a police officer stating that the culprit may never be identified because "a lot of kids carry knives nowadays." What, then, is the point of rehabilitating an offender if any one or more of "a lot of kids" will simply be the next in line? Soft options send soft messages to the public in place of pointed ones. Perhaps justice officials know something I don't, but I don't recall a lot of kids carrying knives in the days when tough crime control methods were used. Perhaps this can be smartly answered by the criminologist who ingeniously stated that violent crimes are becoming more prevalent because society is becoming generally more violent. I thought violence was a crime.