This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Rise in number of persistent offenders
11/07/2006
The number of persistent offenders has risen over the last two years, according to a report published today by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.
Ministers had set a 10 per cent target for reducing the number of persistent young offenders by 2005-06 from that recorded in the baseline year of 2003-04, but the report shows the figures went up from 1,201 to 1,388 over that period.
Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson expressed disappointment and restated her determination that the performance in this area must improve.
She praised local authorities and other agencies who have achieved significant reductions in offending, and challenged other areas to do the same.
She called for a redoubling of efforts to deal with the minority of youths who repeatedly threaten the peace and safety of their local communities.
She also pointed to positive developments. Despite an increased workload, improvements have been made by all agencies on the time taken to report, assess and decide cases. Police and Reporters met their National Standards targets, and there was an improvement in social work reporting performance.
The average time taken from the Reporter receiving an offence-only referral to a decision being reached by a Children's Hearing was reduced by four working days, from 74 in 2003-04 to 70 in 2005-06, despite increased referral volumes. Reporting on persistent young offenders was consistently quicker than the wider group, showing they are being prioritised.
The Executive today published a summary report, outlining progress towards meeting the 10-point Action Plan on Youth Crime, as well as the National Standards.
Ms Jamieson said: "The vast majority of young people are a credit to themselves, their families and their communities but the behaviour of a small minority remains a persistent problem.
"The fact that reductions of between 10 and 55 per cent in the number of persistent young offenders were achieved in seven local authority areas shows that this is a target that can be met, and our target for 2008 remains in place.
"Hard-working families and communities across Scotland want government and local agencies to deliver two things in terms of youth justice.
"They want to see the behaviour of persistent offenders challenged and changed. And, above all, they want to see fewer crimes carried out against them, their families, their property or their neighbours.
"We have provided considerable investment in local services. Youth justice funding is now at £63 million per year.
"Young people's offending is now being tackled more quickly as a result of the investment and reform driven forward in the Children's Hearings system.
"Local agencies are getting a better grip on who the main offenders are - our leadership, standards and new antisocial behaviour legislation have helped concentrate and focus local action.
"But too many areas are still not delivering the necessary improvements for their local communities and are not progressing towards nationally agreed standards of performance, particularly in terms of persistent young offenders.
"Where local areas are on track, we will support them to continue on that track and ensure that they continue the good work and make unbroken progress.
"Where local areas are off the pace, we will ensure they learn from those who are ahead of them, sending in additional support to help them get up to speed.
"If we all redouble our efforts to tackle the problems of youth crime and antisocial behaviour, we can make Scotland safer for everyone, including our young people, who are disproportionately affected by youth crime.
"As a Minister I am not prepared to write off any young person in Scotland. But neither am I prepared to allow a young person's unchecked behaviour to write off a community."
A youth justice improvement team, bringing together experienced professionals from across Scotland, is now in place to provide agencies with advice and support on best practice and to ensure they are improving local performance and delivery.
In 2002 the Executive published a 10-point Action Plan on Youth Justice and also set agencies working in youth justice a number of National Standards to be met by 2006. This included a target to reduce the number of persistent young offenders by 10 per cent by March 2006, and a further 10 per cent by 2008, from a baseline figure of 1,201 in 2003-04.
A persistent young offender is defined as a child or young person with five offending episodes within a six-month period, where an offending episode is equal to referral to the Children's Reporter under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995, section 52(2)(i).