NCJ Number
144379
Date Published
1993
Length
7 pages
Annotation
In March 1993, the British Home Secretary announced he would introduce legislation enabling courts to pass a secure training order, under which juveniles aged 12 to 15 years could be detained for up to 2 years in a secure institution. The new system's regime would emphasize education and training.
Abstract
The criteria for inclusion under the new order would be that the juvenile would have been convicted of at least three imprisonable offenses, would have proven unwilling to comply with the requirements of community supervision, and would pose a likely threat of reoffending. The New Approaches to Juvenile Crime, a British organization, believes that this measure would increase, rather than reduce, juvenile offending. This briefing paper argues that most young offenders can best be dealt with in the community. Past experience has shown that all forms of institutional care or custody for youthful offenders, including prison, approved schools, and community homes with education, have high reconviction rates. This group maintains that the intimidation and bullying of younger juveniles by older or tougher young people would continue in the new institutions, and that their geographical spread and tendency to unnecessarily detain youthful offenders would dilute any advantage of the proposed program. The report suggests that every region should have a comprehensive range of services for persistent juvenile offenders including intensive supervised activity schemes, bail support programs, remand fostering facilities, and arrangements for support services.