Government ‘criminalising young’
The government is too quick to criminalise young people for petty offences where informal punishment could be more effective, says a report.
Ex-Youth Justice Board chairman Prof Rod Morgan criticised an “extensive net widening” of the use of summary powers such as cautions and on-the-spot fines.
His report for King’s College, London, urged assessment of the development.
The Ministry of Justice said there was a reluctance to bring young people to court unless necessary.
The report for the college’s Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said: “There is a good deal of anecdotal evidence, for example, that behaviour, particularly that of children and young people, is being criminalised which arguably would be better dealt with informally (school-related misbehaviour, for example) and in previous times was.”