Two in three child criminals reoffend within 12 weeks of release

CHILD criminals are twice as likely to reoffend as adults within three months of serving custodial sentences, according to figures from HM inspectors.

Seventy per cent of child offenders return to crime within three months of being confined amid a failure to tackle drug addictions or find adequate accommodation, training or jobs.

The figure contrasts with a reoffending rate of less than 30 per cent of adult prisoners within a year of release.

A joint report by HM Inspectorates of Probation and Prisons tracked, for the first time, 50 child offenders aged 12-18 to discover that 39 of them – almost 80 per cent – had a drug problem. Less than half (44 per cent) received any help to tackle their addiction after serving their sentence.

Fourteen of the 50 – more than a quarter – were involved in county lines gangs, which profit from taking drugs from cities to suburban or rural areas, with almost half (22) involved in gangs. The inspectors found that of the 50, half were under investigation by police for reoffending within three months of leaving custody.

An additional 10 had already been convicted of a further offence within that period, while 10 had formally breached their licence conditions, requiring a recall to custody.

Six of the 50 were missing, with arrest warrants issued for their capture and no record of where they had gone.

HM Inspectors warned that public safety was being put at risk, and criticised Young Offender Institutions and probation for not considering such risks when they released the children into communities.

“The risks that the child posed to other people once back in the community – to families and children and to the wider public – were often not sufficiently considered during custody, leaving some people at risk of harm,” they said.

“Additionally the risk to the children themselves was not always fully considered and they were left vulnerable to being drawn back into unsafe behaviour.”

Some children were not told where they would be living until the day of their release or just before, leaving no time to set up training, work or education. Seven went to live in unregulated “supported accommodation” with little supervision or checks on them.

In only 11 of the 50 cases did training or education begin immediately after their release.

Justin Russell, the chief inspector of probation, said it was the most disturbing investigation he had done since taking up the post earlier this year: “If the right services are not in place, these often-vulnerable people are being set up to fail,” he said.