Progressive Labour Party leadership hopeful Terry Lister held a town-hall meeting to discuss crime and outlined some of his solutions. Here are some of his suggestions:

On prevention:

* Reviewing the current legislation and policy initiatives on how our society and criminal justice system processes domestic violence victims and offenders. This will be done to ensure that victims are supported, offenders prosecuted and placed in appropriate treatment programmes thereby reducing the incidences of domestic violence. Exposure to domestic violence increases the possibility of violence by our young men, he said.

On enforcement:

* Ensuring that law enforcement efforts are also directed at those who fund the drug trade and not just the drug suppliers, distributors and users.

* Make available foreign task force officers such as might be necessary to work with local Police service to reduce serious, violent and gang related crime.

* Ensuring that targets are set for a higher police profile in crime 'hot spots' and neighbourhoods where their presence is required to reduce crime.

* Ensuring the funding for police training on 'anti-gang awareness' training continues.

* Focusing all available efforts on ensuring DNA technology is used to the fullest, in accordance with existing legislation, to investigate, detect and prosecute offenders.

On rehabilitation

* Causing a review to be taken of our rehabilitation efforts to assess whether we are providing the best possible programmes for recovery.

* Seeking to expand the remit of the drug court to ensure that a greater proportion of those who find themselves being processed in the criminal justice system can pave their own way towards rehabilitation.

On the criminal justice system:

* Consulting with the law enforcement authorities and requesting their input on whether the statutory sentences are commensurate with the crimes. Where there is support and justification to amend sentencing powers further we will do so.

* Enact legislation to permit trial by judge without a jury in certain crimes.

* Encourage early release of offenders who have fully complied with their court ordered rehabilitation programme.

* Ensure that early release provisions are reviewed so as to make early release more difficult for drug, serious crime and violent crime offenders.

* Seeking to amend the legislation to reclassify controlled drugs to increase the penalties for possession and distribution of the 'hardest' and most dangerous of drugs and reduce the penalties for possession of small quantities of the 'softest' of drugs.