PCCs urged to focus on early intervention to cut youth crime

A report, published by the Independent Commission on Youth Crime and the Early Intervention Foundation, calls on PCCs to ensure that children and young people who are at risk of becoming adult offenders are deterred from a life of crime by early interventions that tackle the problems they face.

A Fresh Start for Tackling Youth Crime, launched at the House of Commons today, argues that PCCs are well placed to lead a change of culture towards early interventions, and can assist the development of working partnerships between police, local government and communities.

The report calls for a greater focus from police on issues such as restorative justice and tackling antisocial behaviour.

It also claims that a significant amount of public money is being wasted through failure to provide the appropriate support for troubled children and young people.

Carey Oppenheim, chief executive of the Early Intervention Foundation, said: “The annual cost of crime attributable to people with a conduct problem in childhood is £60bn.

“Conduct disorder can cost up to £225,000 per child over a lifetime, while effective parenting programmes, proven to tackle it, can cost from £4,000 per child.

“Investing in our children’s social and emotional wellbeing through early intervention makes economic sense and these guidelines put it where it should be, at the heart of our policing and crime prevention strategy.”

John Graham, director of the Police Foundation, which hosts the Independent Commission on Youth Crime, added: “The long downward trend in crime may be reversing and the nature of youth crime is changing.

“Increasing numbers of children and young people are at risk of new forms of criminal activity, such as cyberbullying, mobile phone theft and gang-related offending.

“PCCs, working with police and their partners, should take the lead in building effective, evidence-based strategies for tackling youth crime.”