Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

The Home Office Research Development and Statistics Unit published the report “Electronically monitored curfew for 10- to 15-year olds - report of the pilot” on 21 November 2000. A brief summary of the main findings of the report is given below.

The full text can be found at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/occ-tagging.pdf ( PDF, 230KB).

Summary

• Between March 1998 and February 2000, 155 electronically monitored curfew orders were placed on 10 -15 year olds under an extension of powers from Section 43 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997.

• The relatively low number of orders was thought be due this type of order being effective on only a small percentage of offenders, as relatively few of the offending group have a sufficiently stable home life.

• The use of these orders varied with the juveniles’ age and most of the orders were placed on boys; no orders were placed on 10-year-olds and most were made on 14- and 15-year-olds and only 10 of the 155 orders were placed on girls.

• Most young offenders were curfewed for between 10 and 12 hours per day (12 hours is the most permitted in any 24-hour period). Almost all of these curfews were for the silent hours.

• Two-thirds of the orders for which data was available were completed successfully without breaching. Nearly ten percent went on to complete the order after breaching and a little under a quarter failed to complete the order.

• Communication between the courts, Social Services and education officials was problematic with the educational officers complaining that they had received very little information about tagging.

• There were concerns at the outset of the pilot that the tag might be perceived by the offender as a trophy, but evidence to support this theory was split.

Download the report in full ( PDF, 230KB)