WE MUST START TO BREAK THE CYCLE OF CRIME

Why Henry Mcleish Must Spend To Save And Keep Offenders Out Of Prison

THE teenage car thief was desperately earnest. "People have been trying to
reform me for years,'' said Darren. "But I think I stand a good chance this
time. This place is different because there are fewer of you, only 20, and
we get concentrated attention. My personal officer, Smithy, is OK. I talk
to him every day."

Talking to an adult every day? Blimey! Teenagers will, of course, say
anything to impress. But it is hard not to feel optimistic about Rannoch
Hall, at Polmont Young Offenders Institution. Here is a small unit where
prison staff bother to get to know the young criminals in their care, and
where the regime aims to teach offenders to think twice about creating more
victims. This, it must be emphasised, is not happening for most of the
other 500 juvenile inmates in the jail, 80 per cent of whom go on to
reoffend within two years of release.

Rannoch Hall also tries to build up the self-esteem of its youthful
inmates, who had long ago written themselves off as thick and unemployable,
fit only for a life of drug abuse and stealing cars.

True, they must be punished, but it is folly for them also to be made to
feel useless. If they decide they are not as thick and unemployable as they
thought, they might consider it worthwhile finding a job. This is the best
hope the rest of us have that our houses will not be broken into and our
cars will not be stolen and wrecked by joyriders.

If we are to win the fight against crime, more programmes like these at
Rannoch Hall are imperative. The same goes for drug rehabilitation
programmes. If anyone thinks that soothing the fevered brow of drug addicts
and arranging drama lessons for 16-year-old car thieves is a waste of
public money, they should have another look at how much crime costs Scotland.

At the last estimate, it cost taxpayers more than £1 billion to run our
criminal justice system. About £650 million goes on police to catch
offenders. The rest goes on convicting them, the prisons where they're held
and the regiments of social workers who monitor their progress. Drugs crime
alone costs a further £1 billion.

By far the most active criminals are 18-year-oldyouths. Crime by under 21s
costs a cool £730 million a year. We also know that half the people in
prison are there for offences that are related to drugs, directly or
indirectly.

Since we know all this, what is the Government doing about it? It came in
with a promise to be tough on crime - and sure enough, the prisons are
fuller than ever - and tough on the causes of crime. So far, the home
affairs minister, Henry McLeish, has made all the right noises. He has
visited Barnardo's intensive Freagarrach project, which has a 60 per cent
success rate in cutting reoffending among early teenagers. He was impressed
and said he would like to see more of the same.

Mr McLeish has talked about drug treatment and testing orders, offering
addicts the alternative of treatment instead of just jailing them as
usually happens. Legislation is going through Parliament at the moment to
introduce them. He knows that prison is an expensive option that does not
always work. And there are alternatives, such as electronic tagging. He
would like sheriffs to use them more often.

However, the message from the Scottish Office is that there is no new
money. We have heard a lot about the partnership approach. Reports have
been commissioned and think tanks set up but there's an awful lot of talk
and not much action. Every time the Scottish Office produces another report
, the message is the same - we have to live within existing resources, and
new projects can only be supported by making savings.

Meanwhile, the juggernaut of the criminal justice system just keeps rolling
on, jailing ever more offenders and ignoring victims and spitting out more
angry, disaffected teenage criminals ready for a life of reoffending.

Sometimes you just have to spend more money in order to save. Dan Gunn, the
governor of Polmont, knows it. He is aware he has diverted a fat chunk of
his budget away from the other 500 young offenders to create Rannoch Hall,
but he sees the experiment as an investment in the future. If he can turn
these young offenders around now, he will save us all a lot of money.

At 18, Darren and his mates are convicted on average about twice a year.
They are more likely to be jailed than any other age group. Sitting around
waiting for crime rates to carry on falling will not do.

It is time Labour acknowledged that sometimes saying the right things is
not good enough. We spend a fortune on criminal justice, but a lot of it is
wasted. Much of it does little good and some actually does harm. We have a
teenage, drug-taking criminal underclass. It is a waste of public money and
a waste of lives. It is time it stopped.