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Public to vote on youth crime sanctions
THE public are being given the chance to vote on community service punishments for young offenders.
A Government website will from today allow users to suggest sanctions for criminals aged 10 to 17 as part of a radical new move.
Voters can choose from tasks including cleaning graffiti, repairing vandalism and charity work.
The "Making Good" scheme is being launched today in North West England, and could go nationwide from early next year.
Justice Secretary, Jack Straw said: "Youth crime, no matter how small, can wreck the lives of both victims and the young people involved."
"'Making Good' will empower members of the public by giving them a say in how young offenders in their communities should make amends."
Frances Done, chairman of the Youth Justice Board said: "For the first time local people are being asked for specific ideas for community reparation which will benefit both their local area and the young person carrying out the work.
"Reparation work is vital in helping the young person understand the consequences of his or her actions while repairing the harm caused by their offence."
But yesterday it also emerged hundreds of criminal cases fail to make it to court because of paperwork delays and other problems in the justice system.
According to figures under the Freedom of Information Act, 4,000 suspects failed to appear before magistrates because the Crown Prosecution Service did not get their files ready in time.
But the CPS said the 4,000 represented only a fifth of a per cent of the total number of criminal cases dealt with in the courts.
Of the 4,000, almost 100 were thought to be alleged sex attackers and 700 cases involved violent attacks, according to the figures, which relate to the past three years in England and Wales.
Magistrates had no option but to reject CPS calls for repeated adjournments and throw out the cases when the paperwork did not materialise.
In London alone in the past year suspects in 61 violent attacks, seven sex offences, 25 drug offences and 18 burglaries went free without their case being heard.
Across England and Wales the picture was made worse by witnesses not attending court and police failures to get paperwork to the CPS in 13,000 cases from 2006 to 2009.
Shadow attorney general Edward Garnier said: "These figures are shocking and will only provide yet further grounds for the public's lack of confidence in the criminal justice system under Labour."
A spokesman for the CPS said: "These cases represent less than a fifth of 1 per cent of over one million prosecutions brought by the CPS in 2008-09.
"Only 52 out of 103,893 cases in the Crown Court, which deals with more serious offences, were stopped because a judge refused our application for an adjournment. We are working with the police to eradicate all avoidable failure in all courts.
"The number of cases being dropped across the courts because the prosecution was not ready has fallen from more than 1,500 in 2007-08 to less than 1,200 last year."
Punishment suggestions can be made at the website www.yjb.gov.uk/makinggood.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
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