Statistics released by the Ministry of Justice yesterday show that 28,711 under-18s entered the criminal justice system for the first time in 2012, a drop of 24 per cent on the 2011 figure of 37,787.
Meanwhile, the total number of young people sentenced for offences fell from 63,424 in 2011, to 47,515 in 2012.
First-time entrants are categorised as those receiving their first conviction, caution, reprimand, or warning. The latest fall continues the trend of recent years.
Numbers peaked in the year 2007 when there were 110,826 first-time entrants.
Tim Bateman, criminologist at the University of Bedfordshire, said the abolition of police targets for crime “detections” in 2008 contributed to the fall in first-time entrants to the system.
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