Acting sensible rather than talking tough
We’ve launched some new ideas on tackling youth crime that call for sensible action rather than try to talk tough. The ideas outlined in the document A Life Away From Crime also highlight how to stop children who have been found guilty of minor offences from committing more serious crimes. The main proposals include:
- Making young people pay back the damage caused to communities without involving the criminal justice system
- The formation of a Youth Volunteer Force to engage young people in activities that benefit local people
- Running nationwide restorative justice programmes, with a particular emphasis on early intervention in schools and care homes
- Creating a dedicated PCSO youth officer in every area to work with teenagers most at risk of offending
- Targeting guns and knives through intelligence-led stop and search, hot-spot policing and action in schools
If we want to tackle the problem of youth crime, we need to take action early to stop kids from embarking on a life of crime before it’s too late.
The old parties are falling over each other trying to be tough on crime, but nothing is being done do stop young people getting sucked in to a cycle of crime. Ministers know that programmes to divert kids away from crime work, and are even happy to promote such projects. However, they have failed to fund them properly in favour of punitive policies that grab headlines but achieve little.
It is time for a new approach to youth justice which both prevents crime and confronts young people with their actions if they do break the law.
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