Minister favours restorative justice

Home Office ministers are considering plans to prevent police unnecessarily prosecuting young people for low-level crimes.

Justice minister Baroness Scotland said forces may be allowed to meet Home Office targets for prosecutions by using restorative justice measures instead, under plans being worked on by the Youth Justice Board.

YJB chair Rod Morgan said the targets currently gave forces a “perverse incentive” to prosecute young people for low-level crimes, instead of using a more proportionate approach.

Scotland said young people were being dealt with formally “when what they need is to be told they are doing wrong and given a chance to say sorry”.