I recently visited a community boxing scheme in Blackpool that is helping to draw local children and teenagers away from the risk of anti-social behaviour and crime - steering them away from potential offending and back into education and training.
At the Ministry of Justice, we are making the biggest investment in a generation – worth £300 million over the next 3 years – to support local schemes in catching and preventing youth offending early.
This funding will help local authorities to intervene earlier to address poor school attendance, troubles at home, and substance abuse. The estimated cost of late intervention to the economy is nearly £17 billion per year, and around 80% of prolific adult offenders begin committing crimes as children.
Through the new ‘Turnaround’ scheme - local Youth Offending Teams will be given extra funding to connect children and teenagers to targeted support to stop them going down a path of criminality.
Support can include mentoring, extra school tuition, sports clubs, help to address any issues at school or at home, with their mental health or with substance misuse, tackling the root causes of their behaviour and helping them to get their lives back on track.
Funding will also be used to bolster the day-to-day running of youth justice schemes and initiatives across the country.
You can read more here.