The Prison Reform Trust's unpublished research shows that areas with low numbers of children in custody use a variety of methods to keep children in the community. Custody panels are used in some successful areas, but not in all.
The most important factor in keeping custody low is for the youth offending teams to have a good but challenging relationship with their court. There is no evidence that availability of community options is a significant driver to high custody rates. The decision to imprison appears to be based on the attitudes of sentencers and the seriousness of the case.
Penelope Gibbs, director of strategy to reduce child and youth imprisonment, Prison Reform Trust
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