On a visit last week to an estate in Watford, Hertfordshire, where residents have complained of clashes between teenage gangs, Blunkett said the process was being slowed by unnecessary bureaucracy.
He said: "People don't necessarily know what is being done elsewhere and sometimes the court system is demanding processes that don't need to be followed."
Blunkett said antisocial behaviour orders should be used as an alternative to custody. "We should start by trying to retrieve the behaviour of the individual child and the responsibility of the parents," he said.
He called on magistrates and district judges to meet communities blighted by youth crime to learn about the effect of their decisions on the ground.
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