Opinion

Editorial: Mentors give hope to young people in custody

1 min read Youth Justice Editorial
Among the myriad challenges of transforming young lives, rehabilitation of young offenders will always be among the toughest. The number of 16- to 25-year-olds behind bars has soared by one-third in the past decade while the majority go on to reoffend, reflecting the enormity of the task.

With this in mind, a Prince's Trust-led coalition of charities is this month advancing the case for a more systemic approach to mentoring young prisoners in order to reduce youth crime and prevent reoffending, which is currently patchy (see p15). In particular it wants to see more ex-offenders encouraged to mentor those now in custody. Its report, Making the Case: One-to-one Support for Young Offenders, found 65 per cent of young offenders said the support of a mentor would help them to stop reoffending and 71 per cent said they would like a mentor who is a former offender. The scenario for society is an attractive one: a virtuous cycle whereby ex-offenders are channelled into supporting young offenders, who in turn receive the empathy and support of those who have gone through the prison system themselves.

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