Ministers had pledged to cut the number of juveniles committing new crimes by five per cent between 2000 and 2006, but new data showed they achieved less than half the target.

Official figures from the Department of Justice revealed the reoffending rate was cut by just 2.3 percentage points, to just under 41 per cent.

Figures for adult offenders are due to be published next year.

The frequency rate for juvenile reoffending fell by nearly 19 per cent from 151 offences per 100 offenders to 123.

The number of juvenile offences classified as severe also fell by just under nine per cent.

Overall adult reoffences fell 13 per cent, from 168 new crimes per 100 offenders in 2005 to 146 in 2006.

Justice Minister David Hanson said: "We have made considerable progress in protecting the public by reducing reoffending but there is more to be done.

"Fewer offences mean fewer victims, and that is why we will seek to maintain what has been achieved, and make further improvements."

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said: "We have set ourselves ambitious goals in dealing with this most difficult group of offenders, many of whom come from extremely troubled backgrounds.

"The figures show that real progress is being made in reducing the frequency of reoffending amongst juveniles. But clearly there is more work to do and we will push forward in our efforts to reduce reoffending further."

She added: "While young offenders must always have to face up to the consequences of their actions, the factors that drive young people towards offending – family problems, homelessness, mental health problems and school exclusions – mean that there are no easy solutions."

Frequency of adult reoffending fell by more than 23 per cent between 2000 and 2006 for those handed a court order.

Much less progress was made with criminals sent to jail for less than a year, with a reduction of just 4.8 per cent.

Longer prison sentences were the most successful punishment of all at cutting reoffending on release, the figures showed.

Locking up offenders for more than a year led to a fall of at least 40 per cent in the frequency of reoffending.

The deputy director of the Prison Reform Trust, Geoff Dobson, said: "These figures once again show that the best way of dealing with petty offenders...is to use targeted community sentences, not a series of ineffective spells in our overcrowded prisons.

"By allowing judges and magistrates to force offenders to address the causes of their behaviour, community sentences are much more likely to break the drug addictions and fix the drink problems that fuel so much crime.

"The Government's long-term failure to adequately fund this type of sentence is one of the main reasons why the record prison population continues to rise."