Youth justice

What is this sector and how are we measuring it? 

The aim of the youth justice system in England and Wales is to prevent children from offending and reoffending. What happens to children after the point of arrest – including whether they’re diverted away from formal court processes and what forms of support they’re given – can significantly affect whether children go on to reoffend. We’ve used children’s reoffending rates as our core measure to track the youth justice sector. An offence is considered reoffending if it leads to a caution or conviction within 18 months of a previous offence (at the point either a caution or conviction was served or a period of incarceration ended). Measures of reoffending, particularly when split by type of offence and reoffender characteristics, are affected by the functioning and priorities of the police and justice system.