News

New Labour and Conservative promises to "get tough" on youth crime are significantly out of step with the views of both professionals and the public, new Community Care research has revealed.

Despite home secretary Charles Clarke's latest call for Asbo recipients over the age of 10 to be routinely named and shamed, a survey of more than 600 professionals working with young offenders found nine out of 10 believed that the political debate focuses too much on punishing young offenders, rather than tackling the causes of their offending.

It also revealed that 99 per cent of workers believed that neglect, abuse or bereavement were "significant factors" in young offenders' behaviour.

In a separate survey of nearly 2,000 people from across the UK 87 per cent believed that tackling young people's social problems early would prevent offending.

Both studies were conducted as part of Community Care's Election 2005 campaign, which aims to get social care on the agenda in the run up to the expected general election.

A report commissioned from youth crime expert John Pitts as part of the same campaign suggests that recent policies on youth crime have failed to address young offenders' social needs by focusing too heavily on appearing tough on crime.

Youth justice has been "treated separately" from debates about children's services and confined to Home Office policies, the findings show.

His report also reveals that the government's "over-emphasis" on curbing the criminality of young offenders has "eclipsed the question of their social needs".

It highlights key failings of the government's track record including longer custodial sentences for young people, "record" levels of self-harm in custody, and growing numbers of children placed in institutions despite being seen as "too vulnerable" for custody.


Pitts also says that policies including antisocial behaviour legislation have led to children with no prior criminal offences entering penal institutions in growing numbers.

• John Pitts' report, which launches Community Care's campaign this week, calls for a wider debate on youth justice and youth crime and a "change in political culture".

Combating the point-scoring
Community Care is campaigning to raise the profile of social care in the run-up to the general election.

We have commissioned four reports on youth crime and justice, care of older people, inclusive education, and the social care workforce and have canvassed our readers' views.

These reports are being launched at parliamentary briefings attended by MPs, social care leaders and the media. The briefings will inform politicians and journalists about the central place of social care in political debate. The reports and research findings will be published in full in the magazine over the next four weeks. Readers can get involved by going to www.communitycare.co.uk/election