Anti Social Behaviour, distraction burglay, street crime

domestic violence, domestic burglary, drug and alcohol abuse

How Secure is your Community

Youth Crime

Prevalence of Youth Crime
The number of young people found guilty by the juvenile courts or formally cautioned by police has fallen in England and Wales over the past 20 years. However, it is generally believed that this is not an accurate measure and that youth crime is far more prevalent than recorded crime suggests. Both police recorded crime statistics and national surveys of the victims of crime show that the types of offence most often committed by young people - such as violence and taking vehicles - have risen dramatically over the same period.

More than four out of ten males and one in ten females are likely to be found guilty or cautioned for an indictable offence at some point during their lives. However, it is also true that a comparatively small proportion of the population - about 5 per cent of males - are persistent offenders who account for about half of all known offending. Individuals more often break the law when they are young. Young people who become involved in crime before they are 14 tend to become the most persistent offenders, with longer criminal careers.

Risk factors
The major risk factors for youth offending are:

Individual Factors - includes hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour; early onset of aggressive and other problem behaviour; being male

Family - poor parental supervision; harsh or erratic discipline; family conflict; parental criminality; low family income

Peers - delinquent peer group; high proportion of unsupervised time spent with peers School Low attainment; low commitment/truancy; aggressive behaviour and bullying; exclusions; school disorganisation

Community Poverty- disadvantaged, neglected neighbourhood; community disorganisation, high turnover and lack of social ties; drug availability

A great deal is known about risk factors but little attention has been paid to factors that protect young people, especially those from high-risk backgrounds, from offending. Those factors that are known include having: a resilient temperament; a warm, affectionate relationship with at least one parent; parents who provide effective supervision, pro-social beliefs and consistent discipline; and parents who maintain a strong interest in their children's education. An understanding of how to build on the positive features influencing individuals, their families and communities can be used to increase the effectiveness of prevention strategies.

Efforts to modify the risk factors associated with delinquency include community crime prevention programmes, with a focus on achieving physical improvements in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and providing recreational facilities for young people. Crime prevention in the UK has tended to emphasise measures designed to reduce the opportunities for crime in particular situations. Techniques include increased surveillance by closed circuit cameras, improving physical security, and protecting individuals against re-victimisation.

Youth Crime Disposals - Sentences
If a child or young person has committed a first or second minor offence, a system of Reprimands and Final Warnings can be used by the police. If the police do decide to take formal action then this will consist of, in the first place, an interview with the young person, accompanied by an “appropriate adult”. This may or may not be followed by further action, depending on the outcome of investigation and the seriousness of the offence.

If this does result in further action then Youth Courts have the power to give Detention and Training Orders of up to 24 months, as well as a range of non-custodial sentences for young people including:

Reparation Order; Referral Order; Attendance Centre Order; Action Plan OrderSupervision Order; Community Rehabilitation Order (young people aged 16-17 only); Community Punishment Order (young people aged 16-17 only); Community Punishment and Rehabilitation Order (young people aged 16-17 only).

Youth Violence
The recent youth gun crime crime incidents in England have highlighted the complexity of youth gang violence and the difficulties in effective and sustainable prevention. The upsurge in gun availability and an easy attitude to their use does go some way to explaining the recent spate of the malicious use of firearms.

The knife crime report Fear and Fashion, written by Gerard Lemos in 2004, goes some way further in explaining the youth violence and the use of weapons in a 'delinquent sub culture'. The breakdown in social structures (families, extended families, supportive communities), the established alienation of large sections of the youth population of our inner cities and the fashionable nature of idea of violence are key elements which are the fuel of actual violence and the use of weapons.

If we accept that fractured communities and delinquent sub cultures are the mix which tolerates youth murder, the sustainable answer to the problem must be to effectively enforce the law; strengthen families (whatever their structure) through effective intervention; rebuild communities, through community development, and challenge the negative aspects of youth subculture through the provision of effective youth services and positive intervention in schools.

Youth Crime

The youth crime web pages on the UK Home Office website.

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime-victims/reducing-crime/youth-crime/

Persistent Young Offenders

A crime reduction toolkit published by the UK Home Office - giving the background to specific areas of offending, an analysis of the issues and local solutions.

http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/toolkits/py00.htm

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