'Jail for a day' might just work to deter youth crime

It is not often that I agree with the ideas that emerge from The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), though I did contribute to its report on youth gangs, Dying to Belong, and I did admire the way its Broken Britain report a few years ago posited five key "paths to poverty" - family breakdown, educational failure, worklessness and economic dependency, addictions and indebtedness - that demand attention in the 21st century.

Crime and delinquency both overlay and underpin all of these issues. It is no wonder, therefore, that the CSJ has focused considerable attention recently on the criminal justice system, possibly in order to assist Justice Secretary Chris Grayling's "rehabilitation revolution". The latest supposedly bright idea is "jail for a day" for those who breach community sentences, on the grounds that this will ensure that such orders of the court are less likely to be flouted and mocked, which - according to the CSJ - they routinely are.