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Take on young offenders, firms to be urged
July 16 2008
BUSINESSES will be asked to take on young people with criminal records as part of a £100m Government plan to cut youth crime, it was revealed yesterday.
BUSINESSES will be asked to take on young people with criminal records as part of a £100m Government plan to cut youth crime, it was revealed yesterday.
Ministers want employers to help improve the job prospects of young offenders, to allow them break the cycle of crime as part of its new action plan which has already faced widespread criticism.
It was launched on the day police revealed that an 81-year-old man died from a suspected heart attack after vandals attacked his home.
Grandfather-of-four Mo Lewin's home in North Hykeham, near Lincoln, was targeted by yobs who uprooted gateposts and knocked down walls.
The Government's new plan includes a conditional caution scheme to reduce the number of young people going to court for "low-level crimes". It also suggests that more young people who do go to court are named and shamed.
Criminals under 18 normally have their identity protected unless their anonymity is lifted because of the seriousness of the offence. Now the Government says judges should consider widening the number of cases in which 16- and 17-year-old offenders can be publicly named.
However Elizabeth Lovell of the Children's Society said the move could turn convictions into a "badge of honour" and might also breach United Nations child protection rules. The assistant general secretary of probation union Napo, Harry Fletcher, warned that the plan risked pushing young criminals further away.
Plans to reduce the number of offenders going to court and the targeting of the families of 20,000 unruly children with threats of eviction have also been criticised by a leading criminal lawyer in Yorkshire.
Solicitor Grahame Stowe, who has practiced law in Leeds for more than 30 years, said: "This plan still fails to address the simple problem of gangs on our streets - what good is threatening parents with eviction when the parents themselves have lost control?
"The pack mentality of a gang is a one of invincibility - add a cocktail of drink, drugs and teenage hormones and the inevitable outcome is confrontation and aggression. Tackling these groups should be the top priority, not offering parenting classes."
He also warned that plans to reduce the number of young people going to court could place the public at risk.
The £100m package from the Government features two schemes which allow young criminals to avoid being prosecuted if they take steps to improve their behaviour.
The new Youth Conditional Caution will be piloted from next April and Ministers will also consider expanding a scheme which sees children involved in low-level crime avoid prosecution if they meet their victim and apologise.
The Youth Restorative Disposal project makes child criminals carry out "reparation" such as apologising for their actions or unpaid work in the community on Friday and Saturday nights. It also gives residents a say in the work offenders should be made to carry out through the creation of citizens' panels.
More anti-social behaviour orders will include parenting orders to engage with the criminals' families.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: "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.
"I want to call on parents to play their part. Tough enforcement and policing is only one part of the solution."
Conservative Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said: "Despite a decade of endless initiatives and a dedicated 'respect agenda', anti-social behaviour is not only rising, but is being committed by younger and younger children.
"We need action at every level to fix our broken society."