Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of (1) the cause, and (2) the effect, of the 29 per cent reduction in the number of children detained in secure children’s homes between April and September 2013, in the light of the fact that there was a five per cent reduction in the total number of children in custody over the same period.
Answered on
14 January 2015
Overall crime and proven offending by young people has fallen in recent years. Fewer young people have entered the criminal justice system and as a result fewer young people have ended up in custody.
The appropriate placement of young people into the secure estate is undertaken on a case-by-case basis. Placement decisions are based upon a combination of factors unique to each young person entering custody.
Between April and September 2013 there was a two per cent increase in the number of children detained in Secure Children’s Homes and a three per cent reduction in the total number of children in custody. Between April and September 2014 there was a twenty-nine per cent reduction in the number of children detained in Secure Children’s Homes and a five per cent reduction in the total number of children in custody. This can, in part, be explained by a twenty per cent reduction in the overall number of 10-14 year olds in the secure estate, one of the main groups placed in SCHs.