Young 'nearly all victims of crime'

A poll by the Howard League for Penal Reform said 95% of young people had suffered some kind of victimisation, including nearly three-quarters (72%) who had been assaulted.

It also suggested that behaviour regarded as "anti-social" by adults and the authorities was regarded differently by children, who often saw it as part of growing up.

The charity surveyed more than 3,000 children as part of its Citizenship and Crime project, between 1997 and 2006.

It found 57% had property deliberately damaged, and 46% had been called racist names. In addition, almost half (49%) had property stolen at school and 56% had been threatened on at least one occasion.

However, most incidents were low-level crimes taking place in schools and playgrounds.

Two-thirds of child victims reported incidents to parents but only 28% went to the police.

The young people surveyed suggested crime could be cut by boosting local activities such as child-friendly cafes, skate parks and youth clubs to keep children busy.

Howard League director Frances Crook said: "Children are rarely consulted about the impact of crime on their lives. If they were, adults would discover that children are frequently the victims of crime perpetrated by other young people. The surveys revealed that these crimes are often not reported, as children think adults will not listen to them or the crime will be viewed as too small to bother with."

She added: "Ironically, the very institutions where children should feel safest - their school environments set up and patrolled by adults - are where children are most commonly victimised. The Howard League believes that better solutions on dealing with child victimisation and crime can be found in expanding and developing conflict resolution and mediation-based techniques into educational programmes for schools."