IT was somewhat chilling to be invited by our mayor to consider the option of state sanctioned murder as a means of containment for prison numbers in NSW (‘An Eye for an Eye’, Bush Telegraph, October 2009). Apparently the ‘justice system’ has failed us in terms of leniency and sentencing.

Perhaps we should take a moment to remember that before matters present to the ‘legal system,’ (also mentioned in dispatches), an array of essential community services, involving government departments and even local councils, have already dropped the ‘community responsibility’ ball.

It is not the court system that fails our society - it is us who fail us by not reaching out to our ‘neighbours’ when their ‘going gets tough’.