Mark Easton Jack Straw said today that tackling youth crime was top of the government's agenda. Speaking at a conference on preventing young offending, the Home Secretary championed his changes to the youth justice system which will come into force this weekend.
Young people are responsible for around a quarter of all crimes in Britain.
All week here on Channel 4 News we've been looking at a government pilot scheme that targets young offenders in our series 'Looking for Trouble'. Here's our Home Affairs Editor Mark Easton. Secure Training Centres were set up to deal with persistent child offenders. They were known as child jails and the logic was put all the rotten apples in one basket. It was the smack of firm government, and the Tories of the time were proud of it.