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The government has delivered on its pledge to halve the time it takes to deal with persistent young offenders, according to new figures, writes Lauren Revans.

The youth justice pledge, announced in 1997 with a target date of March 2002, was aimed at reducing the average time it takes to get persistent young offenders into court from the time they were arrested.

In 1996, dealing with a persistent young offenders took an average of 142 days, but new figures show that by June this year this had been cut to 69 days.

Home secretary David Blunkett welcomed the news but warned against complacency: "Some long running cases in the system may cause the figures to rise again before they settle down. So achieving the target is an important landmark, but we will need to continue to work together to ensure that this progress is maintained."

Lord Warner, Youth Justice Board chairperson, said that addressing offending behaviour more quickly made the system "more just, more effective, and more efficient".

"For defendants, speedier sentencing represents a reinforcement of the link between the offence and its consequences," Warner said. "For victims and witnesses, faster processing brings a decrease in uncertainty and increases the chances of a conviction."