Over the past ten years, despite a significant fall in youth crime, we have seen a steep rise in the number of young people going into custody. Increasing numbers of lower end offences being sent to court, has created a false perception amongst sentencers that offending by young people is rising, which has in turn contributed to a more punitive sentencing environment.

To avoid this situation becoming more problematic, we need to encourage greater use of diversion from court - reprimands and final warnings – and increase the range of community interventions available to the courts, so that children committing minor offences can be dealt with further down the sentencing ladder.

A reduction in youth custody will not happen overnight but if more children are diverted from court, we can prevent high numbers of young people inappropriately ending up in custody.