CRIME AND CUSTODY

ONE of the first tasks Scottish ministers took on last year was a study of
youth crime, the results of which are unveiled tomorrow. The problem is not
in dispute. The executive members went in search of practical solutions.
What they learned is that prison does not work. It breeds despair and
sometimes suicide. It locks up young people who might yet go straight with
career criminals who will never do so. Life in jail educates the novice
thief or burglar to advanced level - and does nothing to combat drug
addiction, so often the underlying cause of crime.

The executive has acted on what it found. The children's minister, Sam
Galbraith, is putting money into non-custodial projects with proven success
rates. Instead of being sent to prison, at a cost of UKP26,000 a year,
offenders between the ages of 14 and 21 will be made to attend a community
project on a year-long probation order.

Alternatives to custody have a bad reputation. As Mr Galbraith acknowledged
yesterday, they are seen as the soft option instead of the right option.
But rigorous schemes in Glasgow, Greenock and Stirling have produced good
results. The young people who emerge from them are 20 per cent less likely
to reoffend than those coming out of prison. It is a statistic that
ministers should quote freely at those who will rush to attack their plans.

Of course the public must be protected from ram-raiders, arsonists, muggers
and drug-dealers, whatever age they are. But no one learns to be a good
citizen in prison. It makes sense to punish offenders in the community - to
which they will return and in which they must live. Some of the most
successful schemes have focused on confronting young people with the
consequences of crime and forcing them to make amends - so-called
"restorative justice".

Critically, the NCH Scotland project which ministers are funding makes a
priority of training and work. There is no better way of stabilising a life
and promoting a sense of responsibility.

But the new policy should not be allowed to run by default. Ministers must
follow through their evidence-based approach with strict monitoring. The
public needs protection, and it wants results.