Public risk is main focus on release

Young People and Risk suggests that although risk to the public is an important factor to consider when releasing a young offender, the decision "should be tempered with a greater recognition that young people who offend also remain children in need". The report is a collaborative effort by Maggie Blyth, independent chair of Nottingham City Youth Offending Team, Enver Solomon, deputy director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, and Kerry Baker from the Centre for Criminology at the University of Oxford.

Blyth said in order to both protect the public and ensure young people are safe, a clear set of principles focused on managing the risk potentially posed by young people in the community must be understood by all criminal justice agencies and children's services involved in targeted work with young offenders. The report calls for more evidence to be gathered to establish which risk-management approaches work best and urges the government to establish a new set of guidelines on the issue. The report was published last week by Policy Press.