The National Youth Agency - Making a positive contribution

Making a positive contribution

Crime and anti-social behaviour

In 2006-07, the number of offences resulting in a disposal by young people aged between 10 and 17 was 295,129, a decrease of 6,731 (2.2%) from 2005/06. During 2006/07 the number of offences committed by young men fell by 2% when compared to 2003/04. However, over the same period, the number of offences committed by young women rose by 25%.

Also of interest...

(Source: Youth Justice Annual Workload Data 2006/7, Youth Justice Board, 2008).

In 2006, 7% of the 1.42 million offenders found guilty of or cautioned for indictable and summary offences in England and Wales were aged under 18.

In 2006, just over 6% of all 17-year-old young men were found guilty of, or cautioned for, one or more indictable offences.

(Source: Social Trends, No. 38, 2008)

In June 2006, there were 8,480 young adults aged 18 to 20 and 2,350 young people aged 15 to 17 in prisons in England and Wales, a decrease of 2 per cent and 6 per cent respectively from September 2005.

(Source: Social Trends, No. 37, 2007)

At the end of May 2007 there were 9,137 sentenced young offenders, aged 15-21, in young offender institutions, including 1,894 aged under 18.

(Source: Commons written answer 18/07/07)

At April 2007, there were a total of 66 young women being held in young offender institutions.

(Source: Prison Service (Hansard-Commons 22/05/07))

In 2006, it cost £34,924 to keep a young person in a young offender institution. An annual average of £6,500 per young person. This compared with the cost of £3,800 for a young person in secondary education.

(Source: Hansard Lords debate 12 July 2006 )

In 2008, the estimated cost of community sentences for young people (per person) were as follows:

Community Rehabilitation Order £2,096
Supervision Order £4,059
Community Punishment Order £2,096
Attendance Centre Order £200
Curfew Order (90 day electronically monitored curfew) £1,300
Reparation Order £1,458
Action Plan Order £1,458
Referral order £1,879

(Source: Commons written answer 02/06/08).

In 2004, under half (41.3%) of young offenders aged 10 to 17 had re-offended within one year of being released from custody, compared to 43.3% in 2000.

(Source: Re-offending of juveniles: results from the 2004 cohort, Home Office, 2006)

In 2007, RESET and Rainer commissioned research to provide a case for investing in effective youth resettlement, helping young offenders move from custody back into the community. The study found that the cost of a package of resettlement support for a year costs £9,5444 for an individual with high needs, £8,074 for a young person with a medium level of need and £6,116 for someone with a low level of need. Overall annual costs to the public, criminal justice system and prisons without resettlement support is calculated as £507,260,000. Overall annual costs with resettlement support for 9 months is £427,095,500. Therefore, the potential annual savings for all persistent young offenders (those sentenced to Detention and Training Orders) is £80,164,500.

(Source: The Costs and benefits of Effective Resettlement, RESET, 2007).

In 2004-5, over four in five (83%) of victims of offences committed by convicted children and young people were offered the opportunity to participate in restorative processes, with over half (53%) choosing to do so. Of the 9,957 victims participating in these processes, nearly one-third (31%) chose direct or face-to-face restorative justice. Of those who participated, almost all (97%) reported that they were satisfied with it.

(Source: Youth Justice Board annual review 2004-5)

In 2005/06, youth offending teams recorded the ethnic breakdown of all offences committed by young people that led to a pre-court disposal (Reprimand or Final Warning) or a court disposal as:

85.2% White
5.8% Black
3.1% Asian
2.8% Mixed
0.3% Chinese or other ethnic background

(Source: Youth justice annual statistics 2005/06, Youth Justice Board, 2006)

Headline findings from the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey:

over three-quarters (78%) of young people aged 10 to 25 said they had not committed any of the 20 core offences covered by the survey in the last 12 months.
just over a fifth (22%) reported they had committed at least one of the 20 core offences in the last 12 months.
6% of all 10 to 25-year-olds admitted committing an offence six or more times in the last 12 months (classified as frequent offenders).
a fifth (22%) said they had engaged in at least one type of anti-social behaviour in the previous 12 months.
the most common type of anti-social behaviour identified was having been noisy or rude in public (13%). 11% said that a neighbour had complained about their behaviour.
only a small minority (3%) reported carrying a knife with them in the previous 12 months.
half of those who had committed any offence in the previous 12 months had also been victims of crime, compared to a fifth (19%) of those who had not committed any offence.

(Source: Young People and Crime: findings from the 2006 offending, crime and justice survey, Home Office, 2008)

In 2006, the number of new anti-social behaviour orders issued dropped by 34% from 4,123 in 2005 to 2,706. However breach rates amongst young people had risen from 47% in 2005 to 61% in 2006.

(Source: Home Office website 2008).

In 2006/07, 33% of people interviewed for the British Crime Survey said that young people hanging around on the streets was a big problem in their area, up from 32% in 2005/06.

(Source: British Crime Survey 2006/07, Home Office, 2007).

In 2004, over one in ten (12%) of young people aged 14 to 15 and 9% of 16-17-year-olds were involved in a 'delinquent youth group'. A 'delinquent youth group' is defined as:

Young people who spend time in groups of three or more (including themselves)
The group spend a lot of time in public places
The group has existed for three months or more
The group has engaged in delinquent or criminal behaviour together in the last 12 months
The group has at least one structural feature (either a name, an area, a leader, or rules).

(Source: Delinquent Youth Groups and Offending Behaviour: findings from the 2004 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey, Home Office, 2006)

Young carers

Carers UK defines a young carer as someone aged under 18 who looks after family, partners or friends who are in need of help because they are ill, frail or have a disability. The care they provide is unpaid.

There are an estimated 175,000 young carers in England and Wales, out of a total population of carers of around 5.2 million. A fifth of young carers experience educational difficulties as a result of their caring responsibilities.

In 2004, a survey of 6,178 young carers by Carers UK and the Children's Society (Young Carers in the UK: the 2004 report) found that 56% were girls and 44% boys. 84% of young carers were white. Among minority ethnic groups, black Caribbean young people were most likely to be carers at 3%. Half (49%) of young carers were caring for less than 10 hours a week; a third (33%) were caring for between 11 and 20 hours a week; and 18% for more than 20 hours.

(Source: Working with Children 2006-7, NCH/SocietyGuardian, 2005)

Voluntary and community engagement

The Home Office Citizenship Survey 2001 and 2003 provide information on the extent of young people's involvement in informal volunteering, formal volunteering and civic participation. Both surveys have consistently contradicted assumptions about low levels of involvement of young people. Initial findings are also now available from the 2005 Citizenship Survey. Statistics below have been taken from the 2003 survey and the 2005 survey where possible.

The 2003 survey sought information about volunteering in the last 12 months:

Participation in informal volunteering was highest among young people aged 16 to 19 and 20 to 24 (67% and 69% respectively compared to an average of 62%).

Young people reported close to average rates of formal volunteering (41% for 16-19s and 43% for 20-24s, compared to an average of 42% across all age groups).

Young Asian people aged 16 to 24 had one of the highest rates of formal volunteering of any group - at 46%, (second only to white people aged 25 to 49).

(Source: Home Office Citizenship Survey 2003, Home Office, 2004).

The 2005 survey sought information from those who had volunteered at least once a month in the previous 12 months:

Participation in informal volunteering was highest among young people aged 16 to 19 (50%).

32% of young people aged 16-19 participated in formal volunteering.

(Source: Home Office Citizenship Survey 2005, Home Office, 2006).

Headline findings from the first three-quarters of the 2007-08 Citizenship Survey, covering April-December 2007 has found:

41% of 16 to 24-year-olds are informal volunteers (compared to 35% for all age groups), and 25% are formal volunteers. Young people aged 16 to 24 reported the highest level of involvement of all age groups (51% compared to 47% for all ages).

(Source: Citizenship Survey: April-December 2007, England and Wales. Communities and Local Government, 2007).

In 2004, just over 42,000 students volunteered through organised volunteering programmes at their higher education institutions. Each student volunteer gives an average of 82 hours per year to their community. Over half of all student volunteers are involved in projects involving children and young people.

(Source: Student Volunteering England research, 2004).

In 2007, over half (51%) of young people aged 16 to 24 were very satisfied with 'feeling part of a community'.

(Source: '2007 survey of public attitudes and behaviours toward the environment', Defra, 2007).

In 2008, a survey by v found that 70% of young people think they are negatively perceived by adults despite the fact that 44% say they do positive things for their communities and 57% give or raise money for charities. The poll of 16-25 year olds found that nearly 60% think this negative perception is unfair. 41% blamed a lack of intergenerational understanding and 39% say the public is unaware of the positive things that young people do.

(Source: v, 2008).

Political participation

Turnout at the 2005 general election was 61.4%. According to the British Election Study, under half of young people aged 18 to 24 (45%) voted, compared with just over half (53%) of those aged 25 to 34 and over 70% in each of the age groups over 34.

(Source: Social Trends, No. 37, 2007)

Self-employment

In 2003-4, The Prince's Trust Business Programme: investing in young entrepreneurs helped 3,712 young people to set up their own business and provided on-going support to a further 9,081.

(Source: Prince's Trust annual review 2004)