Keith Simpson, head of service development at Sacro (Safeguarding Communities - Reducing Offending), warned that the figure could actually increase as police forces and other agencies put more efforts into "tightening up" their reporting.
He was speaking after new figures revealed a higher number of persistent young offenders in Scotland than was previously thought.
The National Youth Justice Standards Baseline, based on data from the Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA), identified 1,201 persistent young offenders in Scotland.
The Executive wants to reduce that figure by 10 per cent by 2006, and a further 10 per cent by 2008.
The SCRA will now produce monthly service management reports for each of the country's local youth justice areas, and a quarterly performance monitoring report.
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