Fall in reconviction rate for young

The likelihood of young offenders returning to crime has fallen by nearly a quarter since 1997, the Home Office announced yesterday.

The Government had hoped to cut the reconviction rate by just 5 per cent. It attributed the 22.5 per cent dropin the reconviction rate – to 25 per cent – to the issuing of "final warnings" to young offenders. This replaced the heavily criticised practice of repeat cautions.

Under the new system, juveniles who commit a low or medium-level offence are given a reprimand. If they commit a second offence, they receive a final warning and are referred to anger management or drug rehabilitation courses. A third offence automatically results in criminal charges.

Hilary Benn, a Home Office minister, said yesterday's figures proved "early intervention can help prevent repeat offending".

But Oliver Letwin, the shadow Home Secretary, said the statistics did not tell the full story. He compared them to the "absurdly high" 75 per cent reconviction rate for people leaving young offenders' institutions.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, said: "Only someone with a degree in statistics could begin to make sense of the Government's creative accounting on crime." He said the figures masked huge increases in reconviction rates for more serious offenders.

However, Chris Stanley of Nacro, the crime reduction charity, said progress was being made. "Reprimands and final warnings have a crucial role to play in steering children away from crime before their offending becomes serious enough to warrant the attention of the courts," he said.

"By tackling the causes of their behaviour at the final warning stage there is a much improved chance of nipping offending in the bud."