Fewer children turn to crime (From Herald Series)

Fewer children turn to crime

11:24am Monday 1st June 2009

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The amount of crime committed by children and teenagers in Oxfordshire has fallen by 20 per cent in two years.

Youth workers have hailed the success of schemes such as restorative justice where young tearaways meet their victims to see the consequences of their crimes.

The Youth Justice Board’s latest figures showed there were 510 fewer crimes carried out by children under 18 in 2007/8 compared to the same period a year before.

Oxfordshire County Council’s youth offending team said there had also been a 58 per cent drop in the amount of young people entering the world of crime over the past three years.

Tan Lea, head of the team, said: “While it is difficult to make clear statements about cause and effect, the council’s Youth Offending Service has been working very hard alongside Thames Valley Police and other partners to turn young people away from crime, leading to long-term positive outcomes for many young people and the wider community.

“A key aspect of our work is to ensure that young people are aware of the consequences of crime and we take a strong restorative justice approach to our work.

“This involves, where possible, arranging meetings between the victims of crime and the offender to identify opportunities to repair the harm that has been caused.

“By addressing behaviour, the impact of offending and seeking to provide positive activities, we feel we are making a significant impact on youth crime in Oxfordshire.”

According to the government’s Youth Justice Board, in 2005/06 Oxfordshire’s children committed 2,524 crimes.

The following year it fell to 2,402 crimes before the larger drop down to just 1,892 in 2007/08.

Burglaries fell to 113 in 2007/08 and drug offences dropped from 179 to 152 during the same period.

Violent attacks by children dropped from 465 to 361, theft and handling stolen goods went down from 622 to 492 and criminal damage offences fell from 353 to 276.

Mrs Lea said in the past 12 months the council and courts had been sending more children on restorative justice to meet their victims, which they believe encourages them to turn away from a life of crime.

Examples include a teenager from Oxford who designed a poster warning against shoplofting now displayed in the shop where she was caught stealing and a woman who says she is confident to walk the streets at night after meeting her teenage mugger who apologised.

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