The “sky-high” rate of reoffending by young criminals must be reversed, the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling said today as he unveiled radical proposals to rehabilitate young offenders through better education and training.

Almost three quarters of young offenders return to crime when they are released. Currently, young offenders spend on average just 12 hours a week in education under new proposals this would be more than doubled to give young offenders much more time in the classroom or workshop to help them develop the skills they need to turn their back on crime.

Crawley MP, Henry Smith, today offered his backing for the Government’s rehabilitation policy, saying:

“Nearly three-quarters of young offenders who leave custody reoffend within a year; clearly the system as it is at the moment isn’t working.

“It’s right that the most serious or persistent young offenders face custody but this time must be used effectively to tackle the root cause of their offending and give them the skills and self-discipline they need to gain employment or training upon release.

“Young offenders say themselves that they want better education and training to help them get on to the right path and become law-abiding, productive and hard working citizens.”

At any one time, there are about 1,000 young people in youth custody across Great Britain. The Government’s steps to improve the help given to young offenders when they leave custody will mean that more are encouraged to go into education, training or employment and fewer go on to reoffend.