The government made a pledge in 1996 to halve the time it takes to deal with persistent young offenders in England and Wales from 142 days in 1996 to 71 days by 2002. It has hit this target in every year since 2002, except 2006.
The latest figures, for February 2008, show the average time was 62 days, compared with 70 days at the same time last year. In the period from December 2007 to February 2008, 37 criminal justice areas achieved the target level, with five failing to do so.
But Debra Clothier, national policy development manager for crime reduction charity Nacro, said setting targets is counter-productive since it might mean "reports are rushed and the wrong decisions are made".
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