A study commissioned by the Ministry of Justice found that a number of factors may have been responsible for a falling numbers of first-time entrants (FTEs) in recent years. The number of FTEs increased rapidly from 2003/04 and peaked in 2006/07 at 110,784, a rise that was followed by substantial year-on-year falls, so that by 2014/15 there were 20,544 FTEs - around 80 per cent fewer FTEs compared with the peak.
The report found that factors that could have contributed to the fall included the revision of a police target for "offences brought to justice" in April 2008, in order to encourage police to focus on apprehending more serious offenders, as well as increased use of police-led diversionary practices and informal sanctions, such as community resolutions.
However, it adds that prevention initiatives undertaken by national or local government may also have played a role in reducing the number of first-time entrants to the system, as many of them were implemented well in advance of the fall in FTEs or coincided with the peak in FTEs.
It states that the main prevention approaches implemented during the relevant time period were parenting programmes in the form of Sure Start, and family intervention projects (FIPs), and initiatives targeting "at risk" young people such as youth inclusion programmes.
The report states that high-quality systematic reviews show that parent or family-based programmes can reduce problematic behaviour and delinquency and may act to delay criminal onset.
"Therefore, family-based initiatives such as Sure Start and FIPs, which were introduced in advance of the reduction of FTEs, could in theory have prevented some young people from committing crimes," the report states.
However, it adds that Sure Start and FIPs were not implemented at the scale required in order to be solely responsible for the dramatic falls.
The report concludes that the start of the reductions in the number of FTEs appears to be partly attributable to a revision to the "offences brought to justice" police target, along with national policy and police practice changes introduced to increase the diversion of young people who had committed a low-level crime out of the youth justice system.
"However, these changes occurred after the decline in the number of FTEs that began during 2007, indicating that they are not the only drivers of the change."
The report's findings come amid ongoing cuts to children's centre services.
Analysis by CYP Now earlier this year revealed that there had been a reduction of more than 1,000 official children's centres in England in the space of seven years, with 2,501 as of February 2017, compared with 3,631 in 2010.
