Youth Justice

Youth justice and offending statistics

Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) supervise 10–18-year-olds who have been sentenced by a court, or who have come to the attention of the police because of their offending behaviour but have not been charged, and instead are dealt with out of court. HMI Probation inspects both these aspects of youth offending services. YOTs are statutory partnerships, and they are multi-disciplinary, to deal with the needs of the whole child. They are required to have staff from local authority social care and education services, the police, the National Probation Service (NPS) and local health services.

Lancashire is one of the largest YOTs in the country and is located within Lancashire County Council’s (LCC) directorate for children’s services. The service was inspected by HM Inspectorate of Probation in spring 2019 and the results of this inspection published in July 2019. This report and supporting documentation can be downloaded using the link at the bottom of this page.

The Ministry of Justice publishes a range of annual statistics which concentrate on the flow of young people (aged 10-17) through the Youth Justice System in England and Wales. These are visualised in the reports below.

Main points for 2021/22

247 children were cautioned or sentenced - the number of children who received a a caution or sentence has decreased by 16% in the last year and by 81% fall over the last nine years.
605 proven offences were commited by children - this represents a 22% fall in offences since the previous 12 months and an 80% reduction since 2013/14.
Violence against the person is the most common offence type (35%)
Just under 5% of sentences resulted in custody, this is broadly similar to England and Wales.
154 first time entrants to the youth justice system - the number of first time entrants has fallen by 20% since the previous year, with an 88% fall from the year ending March 2012.