Assaults toll is reflection of society; DAILY POST YOUR VOICE IN WALES.

THE numbers of people being attacked with bottles or glasses in North Wales is a shocking and depressing reflection of our supposedly civilised society.

Someone is attacked once every three days on average - usually in town centre streets by a drunken reveller for whom scarring someone for life is clearly just part of an evening's entertainment.

As we report today, over the last two years there have been around 250 violent assaults using bottles and glasses. More than 60 of the victims were left with horrific injuries and, undoubtedly, a lifetime's worth of trauma from their experience.

One of the victims was just 11; one of the attackers just 14. To read these statistics is to put a mirror up to modern society - and it's not a pretty sight.

The police are criticised for appearing to favour cautions and fixed penalty notices over arrest and prosecution. In fairness, officers have probably got used to putting in a great deal of effort to bring offenders to court only for them to walk away with little more than a ticking off.

But certainly, if victims are being left with horrific injuries, surely a prosecution and prison sentence for those convicted is the only answer.

Landlords of pubs and clubs can do their bit with initiatives such as providing glasses made out of toughened plastic and ensuring that empty bottles and glasses are cleared away quickly.

But we should bear in mind that much of the trouble is caused by youths with too much supermarket alcohol inside them which is, after all, far cheaper. Many youngsters these days don't even bother going to pubs and in fact this is one reason among many why so many are struggling to survive.

Initiatives and crackdowns by the authorities are welcome and important but we should see them as no more than what they are - a temporary, sticking plaster solution to the problem of drunken violence.

The real root cause lies deep within modern society itself in which too many young people are brought up thinking anti-social behaviour is acceptable. Making sure they reach adulthood with a little more pride and self belief would be a good start towards doing something about it.