Don't jail young thugs, give them 'intensive fostering'

Courts should send fewer teenage criminals to jail, the new head of the Government's Youth Justice Board has said.

Frances Done revealed that only 6 per cent of youngsters sentenced by the courts are sent to custody.

But the quango boss, who was appointed to the £85,000 post in February, said she was determined to 'drive the numbers down' further.

She wants the courts to hand out more community punishments, and for problem children to be sent to 'intensive fostering' instead.

This is despite huge public concern over teenage violence in the wake of a string of fatal stabbings.

Last month it emerged that violent crime by young people had risen by nearly 40 per cent in three years, from just over 40,000 offences in 2003-04 to more than 56,000 in 2006-07.

Yet the numbers sent to custody are relatively low. About 2,900 ten to 17-year-olds are locked up in secure children's homes, secure training centres and young offender institutions.

Mrs Done, who oversees the youth justice system in England and Wales, said it was the intention of the Youth Justice Board to reduce the number of custodial terms handed out.

She highlighted a scheme of ' intensive fostering' as an alternative to custody. Under the regime, a support team is employed to work with an offender and their family for a year.

Mrs Done said: 'They've never had boundaries in their lives, they've had chaotic existences. They have to learn to get up, they have to learn to eat properly, they have to learn to do things at a time which has been agreed with their carer. It's a very rigorous regime.'

Mrs Done welcomed Government moves to ensure that more teenagers found carrying knives were prosecuted, but accepted it could lead to more youngsters facing custodial sentences.

Mrs Done wants courts to hand out more community punishments, and for problem children to be sent to 'intensive fostering' instead of prison

She said: 'There is a potential risk that this will drive higher numbers into the youth justice system. We have to make sure we use that opportunity to identify those young people who really need support and attention who otherwise might not have come to the attention of the criminal justice system until something much more serious happens.'

Critics accused the Government  -  which has taken a tough line on teenage crime in the wake of the recent string of stabbings by teenagers  -  of confusion.

Tory justice spokesman Nick Herbert said: 'While ministers advocate tougher sentencing on knife crime, their officials are urging that fewer juveniles are given custodial terms. Once again we see a totally incoherent approach to criminal justice policy from this Government.

'It is precisely this failure of planning and direction which has led to overcrowded prisons and hopelessly mixed messages being sent to criminals.

'We need robust community penalties to arrest the escalation of youth crime but we also need effective regimes to rehabilitate those offenders who have to be held in custody. Currently we have neither.'

Lib Dem justice spokesman David Howarth said: 'Of course there are some very dangerous young people who have to be detained, but a decade of ineffective rhetoric from Labour has left the criminal justice system dazed and confused.'

It came as the Government prepared to publish a review into the state of the criminal justice system by Louise Casey, the controversial former head of Tony Blair's Respect task force.

Miss Casey, who was once caught on tape boasting of binge drinking and wanting to 'deck' Downing Street officials, will admit that public concern about criminal behaviour has risen and that people do not believe that offenders face adequate consequences for committing crime.