Responses to a recent anti-social behaviour survey show that although residents feel crime has dropped it is still an issue that needs further addressing:
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls and Schools Minister Vernon Coaker will today visit Limehouse Youth Centre in East London to highlight the Government’s progress in tackling anti-social behaviour and youth crime over the last two years in 69 priority areas. Ministers will also meet with young people and members of the community who have benefited from Government initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Other figures also show that:

Street based teams …

A new initiative in Halton will give residents a say in the punishments that offenders will receive:
The scheme, which is administered through youth offending teams and which applies to offenders aged 10-17-years-old, has been rolled out across the North West by justice secretary Jack Straw.
If the current trials prove successful the scheme will be introduced nationally next year.
The project aims to toughen up punishments for young offenders.

According to findings by the BBC, teen killings in the UK have dropped by 30%, from 72 in 2008 to 51 in 2009:
Most 2009 victims were male and half of all those killed were stabbed. Twelve were beaten and two were shot.
Police say anti-knife crime tactics explain the drop, but critics argue it is too early to make such conclusions.
The BBC News website’s database shows that of the 51 young people killed so far this year, the youngest was just 10 years old and the oldest 19. The most common …

Southend Council’s Intervention Project designed to reduce the number of people turning to crime has had a "100% success rate" and as such received the praise of Prime Minister Gordon Brown:
Under the scheme, the council’s youth offending service gets in touch with families of youngsters with a high risk of offending.
They teach the families parenting skills, how to set boundaries with their kids and how to get them up and off to school.
It has been such a success that Mr Brown invited youth offending chief Carol Compton and council chief …

Is it possible to spot the children who are likely to turn into criminals later in life? Richard Garside of The Guardian analyses current policies:
There is a view that it is possible to identify the criminals of tomorrow in the children of today. Such individuals share characteristics in common. Family dysfunction, poverty, housing problems and other “risk factors” are markers of potential criminality. Intervening early in the lives of those manifesting these risk factors can arrest the descent into a life of crime.
In practice, risk factor analysis is rife with …