Play workforce to tackle youth crime
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The government should devise a workforce development programme for the play sector to help prevent young people slipping into crime, an influential think-tank has said.
The Make Me A Criminal: Tackling Youth Crime report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) looked at ways of reducing youth crime. IPPR's research showed prolific criminals tend to start offending between the ages of 10 and 13 and calls for effective diversions from crime at an early age.
The report recommends the initiation of a workforce development programme for the play sector with a focus on recruiting adults from local communities.
It also called for the England-wide expansion of a play ranger scheme to enable children to play outside safely. In addition, it called for Sure Start-style centres for five- to 12-year-olds to combat youth crime.
- www.cypnow.co.uk/doc.
