Having campaigned steadily for two and a half years we are delighted to see the number of children in custody going down quite significantly. The December population of under 18s in custody was the lowest monthly figure since the YJB starting collecting figures in 2000. It is of course not a record low, since the number of children and teenagers imprisoned was much lower in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. The thing about this drop is that no-one quite knows why. For years the Youth Justice Board tried hard to reduce custody through setting targets. All these were missed and the targets were abandoned a couple of years ago. 

So why now? Well the YJB are still trying hard to reduce custody, through performance management and persuasion. And all local authorities have had their use of custodial sentences measured since April 2008. Measurement itself may concentrate the mind. The Prison Reform Trust and other campaign groups have been lobbying on this issue consistently and maybe that persistence is beginning to be rewarded.

But Tim Bateman of Nacro thinks the most important factor may be the fall in first time entrants to the system. This is something that has been pushed hard by the government and the YJB and the fall in first time entrants is uncannily parallel to that of those sentenced to custody.

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