EDITORIAL: The facts behind the Youth Justice figures

But a careful reading reveals a far from Utopian picture. Our laws, bureaucracy and the "system" generally seem to militate against efforts to cut juvenile offending.

The board believes many more people in the youth justice system are remanded in custody than is necessary, placing family, housing and whatever schooling there might be under further strain. Black young people are heavily over-represented in the youth justice system: nine per cent compared with 2.7 per cent in the national population of 10- to 17-year-olds. Mental health and substance misuse problems are disproportionately high among young offenders, especially those in custody.

But it is schools and education authorities that should perhaps be singled out as having most let down young people who offend, long before they ever get in trouble with the law. Studies of young people in custody, with an average age of 17, showed that the reading ability of half was below that of the average 11-year-old, and that a quarter had a numeracy level equivalent to a seven-year-old. Around 41 per cent of young people with whom youth offending teams have come into contact are regularly skipping school.