Raising The Civitas's Youth Justice System

In England, conforming to the Civitas’s Crime report Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010) the youngest age that someone can be prosecuted is as young as ten years old. It is also mentioned that trailing, patrolling and applying penalties on young offenders costs almost four billion pounds annually. The numbers of first time offences committed by a young person has decrease over the years; according to the Youth Justice Statistics (2014) youth crime is down by 63% since 2002. In regards to the offences themselves, nearly every offence category has decreased in reoccurrence with exception to drug offences declares Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010). The same report states that theft and handling remains the highest volume category

One of the main issues is the criminal responsibility age which should be raised to at the very least fourteen years old. There is quite a vicious circle continuing today which is that the victimized children are much more likely to commit indecent and illegal activities, mainly because of the lack of support for victims. Prison and sentencing is not the ideal solution. These young youths are trapped in a cycle of reoffending. It is found that being employed abbreviates the chances of re-offending by up to 50%. This may offer a solution. Unfortunately, being taken in custody or getting sentenced to jail raises the likeliness for youths to perpetrate farther illegal activities and crimes and it also raises the likeliness of being unemployed in the future. Community sentences are a great deal less tumultuous to the offender’s future. “Two thirds of those in prison lose their jobs, one third lose their homes and most crucially 40% lose contact with their families. Each of these factors increases the likelihood of a person reoffending, “Civitas’s Youth Crime in England and Wales (2010) quotes Prison Break: Tackling Recidivism, Reducing