Youth Crime Action Plan: Handbook for Practitioners
The Youth Crime Action Plan (YCAP), launched in July 2008, is designed to tackle youth crime using three complementary strategies: prevention, non-negotiable support and tough enforcement.
Title: Youth Crime Action Plan: Handbook for Practitioners
Author: Home Office
Number of pages: 49
Date published: March 2008
Availability: Download full handbook 
PDF 977Kb
YCAP makes sure that young people and their families get the support they need as early as possible so they can get back, and stay, on track. It aims to guard against re-offending by ensuring that young people who do break the law are held to account for what they do, while also giving the public adequate protection from the harm caused by crime.
There are a number of commitments and interventions in the Plan to address different aspects of youth crime. Seven of these measures are being delivered as part of an intensive package in priority areas, together with support for young victims:
- Operation Staysafe: partnerships between the police and Local Authorities (LA) sweeping anti-social behaviour (ASB) hotspots.
- Street-based teams: partnerships between police and youth workers keeping young people away from crime or anti-social behaviour.
- Increased reparation activity: making up for harm or damage done to victims or local communities in leisure time, including on Friday and Saturday nights.
- YOT workers in custody suites (Triage model): Youth Offending Team (YOT) staff liaising with the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to make rapid assessments of young offenders and inform decisions on next steps.
- After School Police Patrols: recognising that there are peaks of criminal or anti-social behaviour by some young people in the period following the end of the school day, around the school vicinity and nearby transport routes and interchanges.
- Supporting Young Victims: recognising that young people are not just perpetrators of crime but are also affected by it and require support.
- Family Intervention Projects: providing support for the most vulnerable and problematic families with children at risk of offending.
- Think Family reforms: changes influenced by the Social Exclusion Taskforce Families report on the impact that family circumstances have on the life chances of children.
Getting a copy
Download "Youth Crime Action Plan: Handbook for Practitioners" PDF 977Kb
Last update: Thursday, March 26, 2009