Pubdate: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Author: Thomas L. Munden Harsh crackdowns on teen (tobacco) smokers Like the sagacious lawmakers in enlightened harbors of social concern such as Idaho, Florida, Texas and North Carolina, I believe we permissive Californians should prosecute those dastardly juvenile smoking of-fenders with no-nonsense determination ("States crack down hard on underage smokers," Dec. 7). In a nation already well on its way to hell in a handbasket, the additional wear and tear on our social fabric by these villainous youths sneaking a stogie behind the barn is incalculable. Hence, let us be severe. Following the initial humiliation of their arrests amid friends and neighbors, dutiful peace officers armed with high-tech equipment should manacle these delinquents and posthaste deliver them to the local booking desk. Since as juveniles they lack Miranda privileges or the right to representation and a single phone call, investigators may swiftly strip-search, photograph and fingerprint the boys and girls and transport them to the nearest juvenile hall. After their convictions - a near certainty if we follow the example of Gothenburg, Nob., and spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on sophisticated camera surveillance equipment to record such heinous crimes - we can ship the incorrigible s to juvenile county work camps. Or better yet to the gladiator schools of the California Youth Authority. That will teach them. And the lesson they will learn -from law enforcement and the criminal justice system, from their peers both in and out of the juvenile penal process and from a society that cannot support, protect or educate kids but will gladly sacrifice them on the altar of adult puritanism - will be well reflected in your headlines when they become adults. Thomas L. Munden San Francisco, CA