Last November, the YJB announced that 10,000 fewer young people entered the youth justice system in 2007/8 than in 2005/6. This was heralded by the YJB as a huge drop of 10.2 per cent, double its target.
But the YJB's former chair Rod Morgan has accused the body of being "disingenuous" for not making clear the figures do not include the use of PNDs.
He said: "Youth offenders subject to these out- of-court penalties are excluded from the first-time youth justice entrants calculation. Were that not the case the trumpeted 10.2 per cent reduction would almost certainly be wiped out."
Shadow children's minister Tim Loughton said: "This is yet another example of the government massaging figures and presenting them in a way that does not give an accurate picture of crime.
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