WITH the personal experience of his teenage son being cautioned for supplying drugs adding to his already-manifest concern about youth crime, Home Secretary Jack Straw today stepped up his drive against it by drawing up a new 'Three R's' for the juvenile justice system.

These, he told a youth crime conference, are: Restoration and apology to the victim; Reintegration into the law-abiding community; Responsibility on the part of offenders and their parents.

It is, of course, evident from the scale of youth crime that, like society, Mr Straw is faced with a huge problem.

But if these measures and those in the Crime and Disorder Bill now going through Parliament designed to speed up the sluggish youth justice system do bring a fresh approach, that which will cause young offenders to be confronted by and apologise to their victims will be welcomed by many.

That is because, too often in the past, victims have been the forgotten amid concern by all kinds of agencies for the offender. Yet while recognition of their situation has been long overdue, so, too, is the need for young offenders to be made fully aware that there actually are victims when they commit crime. For, combined with the serious delay, which Mr Straw wants to cut, of an average of nearly five months between a persistent offender's arrest and eventual sentencing and the poor priority given to those who suffer at the criminals' hands, young offenders may, by the time they are dealt with, only view their victims and their circumstances in the vaguest way.

By being made to come face-to-face with their victims, they may at least grasp more clearly the seriousness and wrongness of their actions. And, as Mr Straw is aware, a pilot scheme run on these lines by Thames Valley Police has been successful in stopping re-offending.

And the Home Secretary is right in his determination to bring home to parents their responsibilities and to back it up with measures allowing the courts to impose orders forcing parents to attend classes designed to help them control their children. For poor parent supervision and guidance are proven, crucial factors in delinquent behaviour.

But Mr Straw will himself be on probation as his 'Three R's' are put to the test. The public, thoroughly fed up of youth crime, will want to see the level offences falling fast and may also wish to see a tough-on-crime Home Secretary adding a fourth 'R' to the process - Retribution.

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