Roy Walker, chair of the Secure Accommodation Network, said courts were handing out more detention and training orders because of their educational focus.
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, more than 40 per cent of the 420 young people in secure homes on 31 March (up from 375 in 2000) were subject to these orders.
This year, for the first time, there were under-12s in secure homes and the proportion of girls has also risen - from 24 per cent in 2001 to 33 per cent.
Walker said this was because girls were sometimes treated differently to boys: "There is often a view that girls are likely to become involved in sexually promiscuous behaviour if they run away, but young men are equally at risk."
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