SmartJustice is aimed at offenders of all ages, but Mallon said targeting young people was particularly important. "Instead of spending millions keeping criminals in jails, we should be spending thousands diverting children from crime," he added.
Mallon's backing came as SmartJustice opened its first office outside London, in the Northeast. The office will promote community sentencing in the region, creating a database of best-practice projects and building alliances with agencies such as youth offending teams.
Lucie Russell, director of SmartJustice, admitted Mallon was a controversial choice to launch the campaign, but said: "He is very clear that prison does not work for short sentences."
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