Smith: Youngsters not going to dogs

Jacqui Smith, who sparked a row over her own feelings about walking the streets at night, acknowledged that serious offences had a knock-on effect on other people.

She also insisted again that she was happy to go out alone near her homes in Redditch and London, despite recent headlines that she would not feel safe on the streets at night.

"I do feel - certainly before I had to be followed around by police all day long - able to walk around where I live in Redditch and where I live in London," she told GMTV.

"What I actually said was, as I think with most women at midnight, I probably wouldn't feel comfortable walking somewhere I didn't know."

Challenged over growing concerns about violence in society, she said that serious incidents had a "devastating impact" on victims' lives.

"It also means other people feel frightened as well," she said.

Ms Smith added: "I feel we have a problem about the way that people understandably respond to that. I don't think we've got a generation of young people that are going to the dogs, I don't think we've got a broken country.

Ms Smith insisted that the Government had taken action to make sure that those caught carrying guns and knives were more likely to be caught and punished.

But she rejected the idea of subjecting repeat offenders to national service, although she accepted that younger people needed other things to do.