4pm kick off: the violence starts when school's out

It displays hotspots for attacks by young people in the borough of Camden.

The data shows the most offending was carried out by 16-year-olds and attacks were most likely to take place at about 4pm, when schools finish.

Analysts noted a "worrying trend": girls were identified in a quarter of attacks, although they were said to be "affiliates" of young male offenders. Measuring crime by day, most violent offences were found to have been committed on a Friday, followed by Saturday and Sunday.

The map is based on the number of violent offences against victims aged under 20 between 2004 and last year. It was released in a review of Camden's crimefighting record.

Analysts concluded youth violence was most likely to be related to domestic incidents and gang-related activity, mainly over territorial disputes. Children were more likely to target those of a similar age or slightly younger than themselves.

In total, Camden police recorded 2,913 incidents of youth violence last year, most of them minor assaults or cases of harassment.

But the figures also show the number of teenage victims of violence has fallen 22 per cent in the last three years.

This is the closest the Met has come to releasing crime maps so far. Camden has released charts detailing virtually all offences as well as anti-social behaviour such as graffiti and dog fouling.

Crime mapping, where details of offences would be published for every neighbourhood, was a key election pledge of Boris Johnson's.

Similar schemes operate in major US cities but introducing them in London has been delayed by concerns raised by the Information Commissioner that they could breach data protection laws and the privacy of victims.

The Met does release crime statistics on a ward-by-ward basis but has stopped short of giving details in individual streets, saying it could lead to identification of victims.

The force may publishmore detailed maps later this year. Camden borough commander Dominic Clout said: "I think people have a perception of crime from the media and they need to look at actual recorded crime so they can make a judgment for themselves.

"The results of the analysis on youth crime show most offences take place outside school and at weekends. One key issue is young people do not think the criminal justice system punishes people enough but something like 98 per cent of teenage murderers are caught and sent to prison for very long periods."

GANG HOTLINE FOR PARENTS

A PARENTS' hotline and longer opening hours at youth centres could be introduced in a borough hit by knife crime.

They are recommendations in a five-year plan devised by Lambeth council to "radically reduce the incidence of serious violent crime among young people". Other measures include parenting classes, a youth crime information unit and spending £2 million on activities for teenagers.

Residents would use the hotline to record concerns about a young person they suspect of being involved in or on the periphery of gangs. Figures show that eight per cent of robberies in Lambeth are committed by teenagers, compared with a national average of 1.6 per cent.