In reference to Andrea Siegel's article "Grieving mom works to help other youths" (May 30), it is sad and disturbing to witness or hear about teenage gangs who are involved in unacceptable behavior in their conflicts with other gangs or innocent bystanders.

While I'm sure our justice system strives to controls this problem, in my opinion society has a responsibility to initiate a more effective rehabilitation program to salvage the lives of these troubled teenagers before they graduate into full fledged adult criminals, hence becoming a heavy liability to our communities, not only as a danger to others, but also as a burden to our justice system through their arrests, court trials, and prisons terms where they will associate with hardened criminals and upon their release start the cycle all over again.

Our present juvenile centers should consider a highly structured facility that contains adequate space for dormitories with bunk beds and various training and recreational activities and school facilities with computers and other educational equipment. It would also need highly qualified teachers whose goal would be to help each resident earn a high school diploma or a certificate for a meaningful vocational job.

No doubt such a rehabilitation program would be a very complicated and expensive innovation requiring the dedicated cooperation and support of a city, county, state and the federal government.

Quinton D. Thompson, Towson