Goggins raps Yots for not using custody enough

Home office minister Paul Goggins rapped Youth Offending Teams over
the knuckles for resisting custody for some young offenders,
writes Maria Ahmed in London.

The correctional services minister warned Yots at the annual
Youth Justice Board conference in London that a failure to consider
custodial placements for young offenders undermined their whole
credibility.

Goggins insisted that prison should remain a last resort, but he
said some Yots were over-using community sentences.

Despite a reduction in the numbers of children in custody
towards the end of last year, there was a 10 per cent increase in
the number of children being held in prison in the first three
months of this year.

At the time, chair of the YJB Rod Morgan attributed the rise to
breaches of antisocial behaviour orders.