Jack Straw: Has plans to clamp down on youth crime

Jack Straw is confident he can fulfil his party's pledge

Straw Outlines New Attack On Juvenile Crime

The Youth Justice Task Force will be composed of senior police officers and representatives of the probation and social services, as well as Home Office officials. Its aim will be to build on the policies to improve juvenile justice which were outlined in Labour's manifesto. The policies will form the basis of Labour's forthcoming Crime and Disorder Bill.

In his address to the annual meeting of the Police Federation in Blackpool, Mr Straw said the new body would "act as the engine of change to drive the much needed reforms of the youth justice system - a system which is currently slow and ineffective and which wastes up to £1 billion of taxpayers' money every year."

Mr Straw used the speech to emphasise that reform of the youth justice system was his top priority. He said that the existing system involved too many delays and that a government scheme was underway to halve the time it currently takes to bring a youth offender to court. At the moment, the process takes an average of four and a half months. This, said Mr Straw, was a "recipe for disaster".

Mr Straw also said that the repeated cautioning of offenders would be abolished and replaced with a final police warning, which would then signal the involvement of a multi-agency Youth Offender Team.

Other measures to be introduced include reparation orders, where offenders work for their victims, and the scrapping of the legal assumption that offenders aged between ten and thirteen are incapable of knowing right from wrong. "At the heart of our new approach is the determination to reassert the recognition of personal, and social responsibility. Young offenders must be made to take responsibility for their actions," said Mr Straw.

Mr Straw said the job of the task force would be to advise the Home Office on how best to implement the reforms devised by Labour a year ago while in opposition. The Home Secretary will appoint the members of the task force personally and it is thought it will be set up within weeks.