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Offending among young people has dropped dramatically, reports David Leask
The figures, based on the number of offence-based referrals to the Children's Reporter, were described as a significant reduction by the council.
Just 6% of Glasgow youngsters – 1339 – were in trouble with the law in any way at all in 2010-11. That compares with 2918 as recently as 2006-07.
For the past five years Glasgow has taken an approach which combines get-tough policing with old-fashioned youth work designed to split hardcore troublemakers from kids on the edge of bother.
One of the architects of the new tactics was Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, of the Scotland-wide but Glasgow-based Violence Reduction Unit.
Mr Carnochan said: "What is notable is that 94% of young people in Glasgow did not offend at all in 2010- 11.
"We need to realise that young people are not 'feral', as they have often been portrayed in the past year, but that the vast majority are decent, law abiding citizens – people just like us, who will grow up to be assets to their community."
It isn't just the number of kids who are in trouble that is down. The sheer volume of crime committed by youngsters is also falling.
The number of offence referrals – a measure of the number of "offending episodes" to the children's report – has fallen from 6501 in 2006-2007 to 2873 in 2010-11, an overall drop of 56%.
Crucially, it is not just minor offences that are down. Reductions over the past five years include a 55% drop in the possession of offensive weapons, knife carrying, drugs offences and a 38% drop in serious crimes such as serious assault, robbery and attempted murder. Meanwhile there has been a 42% drop in vandalism, malicious mischief and fire raising.
Mr Carnochan said: "These figures are encouraging and a testament to all the good work that is being done to tackle youth crime in Glasgow, but we must not take our eye off the ball.
"Strong, effective partnership work is key to tackling issues of youth violence in particular – only by working together can we hope to achieve significant, long-term change and I would urge all agencies to continue in this vein."
Glasgow's success in its battle with youth offending and gang culture has been making international headlines – not least because it contrasted with ongoing serious violence in London, Birmingham, Manchester and other English cities last year.
However, experts like Mr Carnochan have always stressed that Scottish youth crime – and the nature of Scottish gangs – are very different from their English counterparts.
Council bosses today said the last financial year, 2010-11, had been the most successful of the past five.
Youth offences were down 32% and the number of offenders referred to the children's panel fell 26%.
Matt Kerr, the Labour councillor responsible for social work on Glasgow's ruling executive committee, said this was a "remarkable achievement" for the city.
Mr Kerr said: "Across virtually every measure we can see that youth crime in Glasgow is coming down.
"We know that a huge percentage of our younger people are well-behaved and law abiding. Where there are problems we can have confidence that Glasgow has an ever evolving system in place that can help steer young people away from trouble."
Mr Kerr claims Early and Effective Intervention Groups have played a big role in the success. These bring together police, social and youth workers to discuss kids who have come to the attention of the authorities. Often, all that is needed is for parents to be aware of problems. But sometimes children are brought in to another programme, including restorative justice, when they are forced to meet with the victims of their offending.
Crucially, police and other agencies are now taking care not to refer every youngster that comes on to their radar – say for watching a gang fight rather than taking part – to the children's panel.
Superintendent Grant Manders, Strathclyde Police's lead on youth justice issues, said: "We need to recognise that whilst the vast majority of young people don't offend, a small proportion do, and over the next 12 months we will work with colleagues in social work and a host of other agencies to co-ordinate our resources and interventions towards making a positive impact upon this group."
Those who do offend – especially seriously – are getting more support than ever before, including help with addictions and mental health issues.
Sean McKendrick, who leads the council's youth justice strategy group, said: "By diverting a number of low-risk children away from formal processes such as the Children's Hearing System we can devote more time to those children who need our input the most.
"We fully understand that youth crime causes concern within communities and there is no doubt that some offenders do need to be in secure care or custody. But our experience, backed by extensive research, shows that being in custody does not create the outcomes that communities want. Managing a young offender in the community can prove to be far more effective in the long run."
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