Govt lift lid on youth crime action plan
Ministers have today unveiled the government’s youth crime action plan, a day after Gordon Brown pledged a crackdown on knife crime.
In the days since the prime minister expressed his sorrow at a spate of fatal stabbings in the UK and pledged to respond, the government has been accused of rushing through its anti-knife crime action.
But the youth crime action plan, unveiled by home secretary Jacqui Smith, justice secretary Jack Straw and schools secretary Ed Balls, has been on the government agenda for months.
The £100 million scheme advocates greater police enforcement, targeted action, earlier intervention and greater support for parents.
A statement from the Home Office claimed that while youth crime remained stable, “challenges remain particularly around alcohol-related crime, delinquent peer groups and gangs and young people carrying knives”.
Around 100,000 young people enter the criminal system for the first time every year and the government’s action plan will aim to reduce this figure by a fifth by 2010.
The plan will also involve an increase in the proportion of Asbos accompanied by a parenting order, the expansion of youth centres and other activities at times when young people are likely to offend. Street-based teams of youth workers and ex-gang members to tackle groups of young people involved in crime and disorder are proposed.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith said: “We know that the vast majority of young people recognise right from wrong and make a positive contribution to our society. There are a minority however who persist in anti-social behaviour and some in more serious criminal activity.
“Youth crime can have a devastating effect on victims and communities and must be tackled head-on. Today I want to send the message to perpetrators that their actions are unacceptable. They must understand the consequences their behaviour has not only on victims and communities but on their families and their futures.
“Increasingly we are able to identify these young people early and intervene to address the root causes of their behaviour, including supporting and challenging their parents in meeting their responsibilities.
“But I want to call on parents to play their part. Tough enforcement and policing is only one part of the solution. The new action we are launching today gives equal weight to the triple-track approach of intensive prevention, tough enforcement and support for parents.”
Earlier, the Prison Reform Trust warned against the youth crime action plan being ‘hijacked’ by purely knife crime initiatives.
It instead wants “wholesale” reform of the youth justice system.
“The plan has to provide the resources and incentives local authorities need to prevent teenagers escalating through the criminal justice system,” said the group’s director Juliet Lyon.
“Giving the existing child custody budgets to local authorities and making them accountable for children who end up in jail, would make them to do more to prevent youth offending.
On knife crime, the Association of Chief Police Officers said tackling offenders was “not just a policing issue but one for society as a whole”.
Alf Hitchcock, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police and Acpo lead on knife crime – who is leading a national knife crime programme – said: “Together we can do something to turn this tide back. It requires each and every one of us to ask what we can do to help, that’s parents, neighbours, agencies, business and media especially in those neighbourhoods where the problem is acute.”
