'Too Many' Children Being Locked Up

Children as young as 12 are being wrongly incarcerated every year in England and Wales, breaking government guidelines, according to a report by the charity Barnardo's.

A study of cases found that confusion over the criteria for youth courts led to more than 165 under-15s being wrongly given custodial sentences in 2007.

The law states that children under 14 should only be put in custody if they have committed a grave offence or are deemed to be a persistent offender.

The Ministry of Justice specify detention should be the last resort but judges should have the final say.

The charity's report found more than a third of 12 to 14-year-olds locked up did not meet the conditions.

Until 1998 it would have been illegal to imprison these young people unless they had committed a grave offence.

Barnardo's Chief Executive Martin Narey said: "Barnardo's is realistic about the reality that some children, even those as young as 12, need to be locked up.

"But the clear intention of government and of parliament is that custody for teenagers as young as this should, genuinely, be used only as a last resort.

"This is a tragedy for the young people themselves, it's a shocking waste of money and, in terms of reducing their offending and doing anything to protect victims, it is almost invariably ineffective."

More than 20% of the children had been locked up for breaching a community order, such as an anti-social behaviour order.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: "We know that sending children to prison is expensive and ineffective, with three-quarters reoffending within a year of release.

"Yet we still persist in sending thousands of our most vulnerable young people into corrosive youth custody every year. We need sentences that work, not those that lead children into more trouble."

Mr Narey said Barnardo's want stricter, clearer rules on sending children as young as 12 to custody to bring practice into line with government policy.

(GK/KMcA)