Neues aus England und Wales: Weniger delinquente Kinder bzw. Jugendliche als vorher, jedoch weiterhin hoher Anteil von Minderheitsangehörigen unter den bei Justiz und Vollzug behandelten jungen Verdächtigen bzw. Abgeurteilten

Von krimg, 4. Februar 2016

Youth Justice Board, 29. January 2016

Nine per cent fewer children entering the youth justice system than a year ago

The number of children entering the youth justice system for the first time has fallen by 9% in 2014/15. This is a reduction from 22,648 in 2013/14 to 20,544 according to the Annual Youth Justice Statistics, published yesterday, 28 January.

The figures also show that there are fewer young people committing offences than ever before, with the number of proven offences falling to 87,160 – down 4% on 2013/14. Similarly, the number of young people in custody has fallen to 1,037 on average in 2014/15 – down 15% on the average for 2013/14.

The number of young people in the reoffending cohort from 2013/14 (the period for which we have the latest data) has also decreased by 20%, and the number of reoffenders and reoffences have fallen by 15% and 12% respectively. However, as the size of the total offender cohort has fallen by a greater proportion than the number of reoffenders, the reoffending rate has increased. The reoffending rate rose by 1.9 percentage points compared with 2012/13, to 38%. Historically the reoffending rate for 10 to 14 year olds has been lower than that for 15 to 17 year olds, but now the reoffending rate for 10 to 14 year olds is higher than that for 15 to 17 year olds (38.9% and 37.8% respectively).

Lin Hinnigan, the YJB’s Chief Executive said: “It is very encouraging to see 2,100 fewer young people entered the youth justice system, that there are even fewer in custody and the number of proven offences is falling. “Reducing reoffending remains a priority for us. We are drilling down into the data to examine how the frequency and seriousness of offending has changed and we continue to develop and share effective practice in addressing reoffending behaviour with others in the sector.”

Lin Hinnigan added: “The high proportion of young people in the youth justice system from Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds (20%), remains very disappointing. We are working directly with youth offending teams where we see the highest levels of BAME children in the system. But it remains a priority for us all to drive change which can impact this disproportionality.”

You can read additional information in the YJB’s press release on the Youth Justice Statistics.