Offenders aged under 24 'shouldn't be sent to adult prisons' - 24dash.com

The Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance, a coalition of charities campaigning to change the treatment of young people in the criminal justice system, said sending young people to prison was like sending them to the "university of crime".

It made the comments in its new "green paper", published today, which outlined 21 proposals aimed at changing the way Britain deals with young adult crime.

The coalition said that although 18 to 24-year-olds commit a third of all crime, represent a third of people sentenced to prison each year and take up a third of Britain's probation caseload, they are rarely treated as a distinct age group.

The policies are split into six areas: policing and community involvement, sentencing and courts, custody and community, work and education, health, housing and social care and drugs/alcohol.

The alliance is calling for an immediate reduction in the number of young adults in custody serving short sentences for non-violent crimes and wants a review of the overall policy of locking up young adults for less than six months, with the aim of abolishing the practice.

It wants to see young criminals sent to Young Offenders Institutions or, ideally, to dedicated community prisons which would have links with higher education colleges.

Other policies include training beat police in conflict management so that they can better deal with gang disputes and young adult crime, and using community sentences rather than prison for cases involving young adults with substance misuse problems

It is also urging the Government to provide financial incentives for businesses employing young adults with a criminal record and said young offenders should be able to count time in custody as time unemployed in order for businesses to receive the £2,500 offered to companies who employ unemployed young adults.

Rob Allen, director of the T2A Alliance, said: "For too long criminal policy has neglected the special needs of young adults, resulting in high rates of imprisonment and re-offending among this age group.

"We need a comprehensive rethink of measures for young people in transition to adulthood so that more grow out of crime, more are diverted from prison and those who are detained are given every chance to make a new start in their lives."

Sir Alan Beith MP, chair of the Justice Select Committee, said: "Young adults make up a disproportionate number of people involved in the criminal justice system in the UK.

"Addressing the unique needs of this age group and finding ways of moving them away from crime should be a key aim for policy makers.

"This new report by the Transition to Adulthood Alliance is a valuable addition to the debate around young adults and the criminal justice system."

The T2A Alliance is aiming to affect the draft manifestos of all of the major political parties leading up to the next general election. The Alliance is convened by the Barrow Cadbury Trust and includes almost all campaigning groups, research organisations and NGOs within the youth justice sector including Catch22, Clinks, the Prince's Trust, and the Young Foundation.