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VARIATIONS IN levels of serious crime, as detailed by the Central Statistics Office, should not take away from wholly positive news regarding young offenders. At last, measures to supervise and rehabilitate troubled juveniles within their own communities and keep them out of prison are having a measurable effect. For the first time in five years, the reported incidence of youth crime showed a decline in 2008.

It has taken a long time to get to this point. More needs to be done to encourage judges to consider non-custodial responses; to develop juvenile liaison and probation services and to invest in educational and social resources within deprived communities. Such an approach will actually save money. It costs more than €2,000 a week to lock up a young person. Helping them to become productive members of society makes both economic and social sense.