Custody levels for under-18s are currently at their lowest level in more than a decade with the number of under-18s in custody falling to 1,890 as recently as April this year, compared with more than 3,000 in August 2008.
Numbers in custody rose in the wake of the summer’s riots to 2,106 in August but latest figures released this month show they fell back to 2,021 in October.
However, Clarke has indicated that this could potentially rise as a result of long-term youth unemployment, which this week hit its highest level since 1992 with 1.03 million unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds in the three months to October 2011.
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