THE Children’s Society has welcomed a new survey that suggests that only one person in ten believes prison to be the solution to youth crime. The charity calls on the Government to consider more community-based sentences.

A poll of more than 1000 people was conducted by ICM, on behalf of SmartJustice, a group that campaigns for more alternatives to custody. Of those approached, two out of three believed that prisons actually nurtured crime.

Eighty per cent of those interviewed backed alternatives such as mental-health treatment and drug- or alcohol-therapy. Altogether, 90 per cent called for better parental support and more constructive activities for young people to stop them turning to crime.

The poll was commissioned by SmartJustice, to launch the Prison Reform Trust’s programme to reduce child and youth imprisonment.

The number of under-18s in prison has more than doubled since 1989. More than eight out of ten of these are reconvicted within two years of release.

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children’s Society, said on Friday that the survey “confirms that the public wants a seismic shift in the way we treat children in trouble with the law”.

www.smartjustice.org

www.childrenssociety.org