Sterner line on young offenders

Press, 6 December 1979, Page 10

Sterner line on young offenders

By

KEN COATES

in London

Speculation is mounting in Britain about what the Government intends to do in implementing its promise of “short, sharp, shock treatment” for young offenders. The Home Secretary (Mr William Whitelaw) has announced that two juvenile detention centres will be used for the experiment. One is at Send, near Guildford, Surrey, and the other is at New Hall. near Wakefield, Yorkshire. The boys at Send are there mainly for theft, vandalism, and criminal damage. Already the boys, aged from 14 to 16, face reveille at 6.45 a.m. and their kit must be folded, army-fashion for a strict inspection. After breakfast at 7.30 a.m., a strict timetable of maintenance work and education begins, broken only by meals and the six headcounts of the day, until lights out at 10 p.m. Mr Whitelaw’s new regime, to be introduced in the spring, is supposed to mean that everything will be done “at a strict tempo.” However, commentators have said it is hard to see how anything would change at Send unless the warden forced the boys to carry out all the tasks at the double.

The only relaxation periods they are allowed are two hours on Saturday and Sunday when they are allowed to watch tele-

vision. They are allowed one half-hour visit a fortnight. Even so, some of the staff believe the centres are too relaxed. Critics of the new move have pointed out that 70 per cent of the boys who are sent to Send offend again when they are released. The chairman of the Howard League for Penal Reform (Mr L. B. Cooper) says he sees no purpose in the experiment, “except to satisfy a section of public opinion.” He predicts that the boys will continue to come out much the same as when they went in.