THOSE involved with treating offenders are constantly looking for ways of trying to deter them from committing further crimes.

Society demands that people who attack, rob and steal from those around them are punished but also wants them to realise the error of their ways and become law-abiding citizens.

Community punishment orders supervised by the probation service are not meant to be an easy method of "doing time" but a way of making offenders do some useful work and help others at the same time.

But figures out today reveal that across the county only 72 per cent of those given community punishment orders actually fully complied with them.

This means that three out of ten offenders failed to comply with the court orders imposed on them - which adds up to a total of five years of community work.

But the good news is that the Lancashire Probation Service took action and 92 per cent of those who breached orders were sent back to court for further punishment or put in jail.

Such swift action is essential to ensure that offenders get a clear message that community punishment is a serious alternative to the traditional prison sentence but is no kind of soft option.