Tackling youth crime has been at the heart of the Government's approach to making our streets safer and to dealing with anti-social behaviour. The Youth Crime Action Plan makes it clear that those who offend will face tough, effective penalties and at the same time we have focused greater effort than ever before on preventing young people going astray.
The vast majority of young people make a positive contribution to society, but a minority of young people continue to blight their communities by breaking the law and behaving in an anti-social way. We estimate that 5% of young people are responsible for over half of youth crime. We believe that we are increasingly able to identify these young people early and can intervene to address the root causes of their behaviour, which includes supporting and challenging their parents to meet their responsibilities.
The proposals in this Action Plan emphasise the fundamental importance of providing services to young people and their families which have a consistent approach to assessment, early identification and targeted support.
This Action Plan proposes a strong cross-government package of measures to overcome these challenges and sends a clear message that youth crime will not be tolerated. These measures are based on the 'triple track' approach of enforcement in response to offenders, non-negotiable support to those who need it and intervention to prevent problems before they spiral into criminal behaviour. We will achieve this by:
- taking tough action to keep our streets safe – dealing with gangs and young people out of control;
- expanding the provision of the most effective early and targeted preventative interventions;
- tough, visible and fair justice, giving local people a say;
- ensuring strong and effective custodial sentences for the most serious and prolific offenders;
- improving ongoing support for children following the end of their sentence and improving the education of young offenders;
- clarifying and strengthening the collective responsibility of local authorities and local partners, including YOTs working together through children's trusts to prevent youth crime and reduce re-offending.
