The Youth Justice Board has a target to reduce the number of young people held in custody by 10 per cent by March 2008, and the Home Office is keen to develop stronger community alternatives to custody - some of which would be introduced by the bill.
Last month the board published its Strategy for the Secure Estate for Children and Young People, including a plan to create more open types of custody, which young offenders could be sent to after serving part of their sentence while held in the closed secure estate.
If published the bill would propose legislation to back this up, said Tim Bateman, senior youth crime policy development officer for charity Nacro, at a National Association for Youth Justice conference last week.
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