Ministers hail success on young offenders

Ministers have hailed their success in speeding up the way persistent young offenders are dealt with by the courts system.

Figures published on Friday for the first quarter of 2004 showed that the government had continued to meet its pledge to halve the time from arrest to sentencing for young offenders.

Announced in 1997, the pledge was first met in August 2001 and has been met in 24 of the 27 months since then.

In 1996 it took an average of 142 days to deal with a persistent young offender, defined as a person aged 10 to 17 who has been convicted of a recordable offence on three or more occasions and commits another offence within three years.

In the three months between January and March the figures showed it was taking 63 days to deal with the offenders.

"The continued efforts of all the local criminal justice agencies in making sure persistent young offenders are brought to justice quickly is to be congratulated," said Home Office minister Paul Goggins.

"The reforms to the way that these cases are handled at all stages of the criminal justice system that are being brought in through the Criminal Justice Act can only improve on this success."

Expectations

Rod Morgan, chairman of the Youth Justice Board, said the news was an achievement "to be celebrated".

And courts minister Christopher Leslie said the public expects offenders to be dealt with "quickly and effectively".

"Improvements in the way court cases are handled have made a significant contribution to halving the time from arrest to sentence for persistent young offenders and continuing to deliver on the government's pledge," he added.

"This, in turn, goes a long way to increasing public confidence in the criminal justice system."

Attorney general Lord Goldsmith said the Crown Prosecution Service should become "a world-class prosecuting service".