WIREDGOV

A new way to tackle youth offending using early intervention to clamp down on criminality will keep young people out of trouble and save public money, Kenny MacAskill said yesterday.

Speaking at a conference in Dumfries, the Justice Secretary outlined the Whole System Approach, which will hold young people to account for their behaviour, and stop them following the wrong path into a life of crime.

These include:

• early intervention to divert minor offenders towards positive activities focusing on under 18s for the first time
• sharing intelligence on serious and persistent offenders across agencies to identify and challenge behaviour
• more effective risk assessment, ensuring resources are targeted at those at highest risk of reoffending
• greater use of community service to develop skills and encourage safer communities

It follows a successful pilot in Aberdeen which has shown significant cost savings and seen a reduction in youth crime of almost 10 percent. The number of young people committing crimes has also gone down in Aberdeen by almost 16 percent in the last year, compared with 2009/10.

Mr MacAskill said:

"We want our young people to have the best chances in life and we know that the vast majority of them are a credit to their communities.

"Crime is at a 35 year low, under 18s offending fell by 12 percent between 2009 and 2010 and offence referrals to the children's reporter have halved in the last four years. We now have 1,000 extra police officers in our communities making streets safer and criminals are being punished through the longest sentences in a decade.

"However more needs to be done. We know that some young people fall through the cracks and we need to discourage delinquency before they follow the wrong path into a life of crime.

"The Whole System Approach aims to nip early offending in the bud before it becomes a problem later. It tackles all youth offending - from low level crime to the most serious and harmful offences.

"The results from the one year project in Aberdeen show that this approach works, youth offending is down and significant public money has been saved. Following the success of the Aberdeen pilot this approach is being rolled out to other areas in Scotland such as Dumfries and Galloway.

"Early intervention is the most effective way to prevent offending, diverting young people from criminal behaviour by offering them opportunities and not obstacles, and making our systems leaner and more efficient to cut youth crime and create safer communities."

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