This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Latest youth offender figures
02/03/2007
The number of persistent young offenders (PYOs) in the first nine months of 2006-07 was 1,177, according to the latest quarterly figures published today by the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.
This cumulative total is 72 more than at the same point last year, although the number qualifying in the most recent quarter was less than in the same period in 2005-06 and 2004-05.
The cumulative increase is accounted for by the performance in Scotland's four largest council areas - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fife and North Lanarkshire, which collectively saw a year on year increase of 82 in PYOs over the first nine months of 2006-07.
The biggest reductions in numbers over the same period have been achieved in Stirling and Dundee.
In response to today's figures a number of authorities, including Fife, North Lanarkshire and Dundee, have indicated that they are keen to work with others to learn from best practice in tackling persistent youth offending.
A team of frontline professionals is currently working with all 32 local authorities to assess and support their plans to implement the Youth Justice Improvement Programme, which was launched by Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson in October.
Ministers also announced today that the Social Work Inspection Agency will conduct an inspection of youth justice services, focusing on the effectiveness of interventions with serious and persistent offenders, aged 14-18.
Ms Jamieson said:
"The vast majority of young people in Scotland are a credit to us. They are benefiting from the safer, stronger communities we are building, through our focus on tackling all forms of antisocial behaviour and our success in cutting crime.
"Increased resources for youth justice services across Scotland is helping to divert more young people away from offending, providing intensive support for families who need it most, and ensuring those who continue to offend take some responsibility for their actions.
"However, it is quite clear - particularly to those who have suffered as a result of their unruly behaviour - that a minority of young people cause disproportionate harm to their communities.
"Fourteen local authorities have now achieved reductions in persistent youth offender numbers in the first nine months of 2006-07 compared to the same period last year, but the figures are up in 17 areas.
"I want to pay tribute to those areas like Dundee and Stirling who are demonstrating that significant improvements in this difficult area can be made.
"Despite signs of improvement, particularly since October, progress in many areas needs to be accelerated and sustained. There are still too many young people whose behaviour is not being sufficiently challenged, nor ultimately changed.
"The draft plans we have received from across the country, for the most part, show a willingness among local agencies to work more closely together to identify young people most at risk of repeat offending and to take the firm action needed to tackle it.
"The improvement team is providing support and advice to ensure agencies are collectively addressing and improving all indicators on youth crime, concentrating initially on those areas like Glasgow, Edinburgh and North Lanarkshire, with most still to do.
"But this team is here to support local agencies - not to do it for them. That requires leadership and commitment from local authorities and their partners in the police and Scottish Children's Reporter Administration.
"In every part of Scotland I expect - and more importantly our hard-pressed communities expect - to see agencies using the measures and resources now available to them.
"I am pleased to hear that some agencies and authorities have also committed themselves to working with others to learn from what works. I expect to see that commitment from all of them.
"Crime overall is falling. Robberies are at a 30 year low. But within that overall picture of success we also need to see the offending of this small group of young people falling too."
Young people qualified as PYOs as-at the end of Q3 (05-06) 06-07:
SCOTLAND (1,105) 1,177
Aberdeen City (44) 51
Aberdeenshire (6) 12
Angus (33) 31
Argyll & Bute (15) 12
Clackmannanshire (20) 18
Dumfries & Galloway (34) 37
Dundee (72) 58
East Ayrshire (41) 35
East Dunbartonshire (8) 3
East Lothian (4) 10
East Renfrewshire (3) 4
Edinburgh, City of, (77) 87
Eilean Siar (11) 7
Falkirk (35) 33
Fife (65) 78
Glasgow City (203) 248
Highland (35) 30
Inverclyde (11) 16
Midlothian (21) 24
Moray (21) 34
North Ayrshire 46 (46)
North Lanarkshire (73) 87
Orkney Islands (4) 0
Perth & Kinross (24) 18
Renfrewshire (16) 15
Scottish Borders (13) 19
Shetland Islands (3) 4
South Ayrshire (22) 27
South Lanarkshire (58) 56
Stirling (33) 17
West Dunbartonshire (32) 37
West Lothian (22) 23
The number of children qualifying as new PYOs in the third quarter of 2006-07 was 182 - 36 fewer than in each of the first two quarters of the year.
The Executive has increased funding to youth justice services from £3.5 million in 2000-01 to £63 million in 2006-07. This funds a range of local programmes including restorative justice and intensive support schemes, as well as diversionary activities supported through the Local Action Fund.
A further £2 million is being provided over two years to support projects that bring together health, housing and social work professionals to target support for troubled families and break the cycle of antisocial behaviour.
The Antisocial Behaviour Act 2004 introduced a range of measures, including dispersal orders, ASBOs-for under-16s, Intensive Support & Monitoring and Parenting Orders, to help local authorities and police tackle lower-level disorder and offending in communities. This has been supported with £130 million funding over four years, to help local authorities and police tackle antisocial behaviour and promote community safety.
In 2002 the Executive set agencies working in youth justice a set of national standards to be met by 2006. A target was also established to reduce the number of PYOs by 10 per cent by March 2006, and a further 10 per cent by March 2008, from a baseline figure of 1,201 established in 2003-04. The figure for 2005-06, published last summer, was 1,388.
A PYO 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).
Last October the Justice Minister launched the Youth Justice Improvement Programme to help deliver more consistent, co-ordinated and effective youth justice services across the country. The Programme outlines detailed actions to be taken at a local and national level, with timescales, to deliver: improved practice; improved evaluation and performance; more effective management; greater information to victims, communities and offenders; and appropriate capacity and skills.
The Youth Justice Improvement Team, bringing together experienced police and other professionals, is now working with all local authorities and partner agencies to ensure all are adopting good practice and in a position to deliver consistent, sustained improvement in performance.
Every local authority has now produced a draft action plan to demonstrate how they propose to take forward their programmes of activity, focusing on the criteria identified as key to sustained improvement: demonstrable early intervention; applying effective interventions; delivering parenting responses; sharing information and establishing governance channels; and specific actions targeted at serious and persistent offenders in order to deliver sustained improvements.
The SWIA inspection is expected to begin shortly and due to be completed by December 2007. It will examine the effectiveness of services provided by education, health, police, the voluntary sector and Scottish Prison Service.