Problems surrounding policing and criminal behaviour in the North would not be resolved by battering young people, Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Mr Martin McGuinness, has said.
Responding to recent accusations that republican paramilitaries had stepped up their campaign of so-called "punishment" beatings and shootings, he said his party was totally opposed to such attacks.
He said in a statement the attacks arose because of the absence of a "proper and acceptable" policing service within nationalist areas.
"However, neither the policing problem nor the issue of criminal and anti-social behaviour will be resolved by battering young people, some of whom are categorised as `hoods'," he said.
Nationalist communities wanted and deserved proper policing. "They are law-abiding communities that have withstood the rigours of this conflict with great dignity," he said.
The statement came after the latest paramilitary-style attack in which two masked men used baseball bats to break the leg of a man in the predominantly loyalist area of Monkstown on the outskirts of north Belfast on Thursday night.
According to Mr McGuinness Sinn Fein had sought to develop measures, programmes and projects which could reduce antisocial behaviour and help end "punishment" attacks.
He said his party had been involved in the formation of a number of neighbourhood watch groups and the development of community restorative justice projects.
"To be effective it is imperative that the community is involved in all aspects of such a development and agrees with the principles underlying its existence," he said.