News

Juveniles on bail awaiting trial will be electronically tagged, home secretary David Blunkett has announced, writes Jonathan Pearce.

Under the plans courts will be given powers to tag 12 to 16-year-olds who have been granted bail, where they believe repeat, imprisonable offences are likely to be committed.

The tagging will allow any conditions, such as a curfew requirement, to be monitored.

"There will be no ‘untouchables’ in our criminal justice system," said Blunkett.

But Paul Cavadino, chief executive of rehabilitation charity Nacro, said there were problems with tagging children, "not least the fact that some will regard the tag as a badge of honour".

Bail support and supervision programmes would be more likely to keep them "out of trouble", he added.

Blunkett’s measures to tackle youth crime follow confirmation from Bradford council that it recently issued anti-social behaviour order warning letters to three pupils at the city’s Laisterdyke High School.

The council’s director of housing Geraldine Howley said: "The letters were given out in the presence of the police, the school’s community officer and their parents, and have been successful in putting a stop to their unacceptable conduct."

According to the school’s head teacher Joan Law, the action has been taken to address a succession of computer equipment thefts. The school believed that working with the council on anti-social behaviour orders would be more effective than excluding the pupils from school.

The council also has plans to issue warning letters to a further nine pupils at the school, said Howley, adding: "We would stress that this is an isolated incident and Laisterdyke is not a problem school."