Yobs should be grounded says shadow Home Secretary

The Epsom and Ewell MP said police should be able to impose community orders on misbehaving teens without taking them through the criminal justice system.

He was speaking at a crime partnership meeting in Croydon on Wednesday.

He said: “You could ground someone for a fortnight. They would not be allowed out in the evening or on the weekends.

“At the moment there is a big gap between first contact and the criminal justice system.”

Mr Grayling said early intervention would mean less teenagers turning into criminals later on in life.

He said: “Young people with difficult and challenging backgrounds need more help. We need better work on preventing reoffending.”

He added youth groups and those offering mentoring to young offenders needed to be given more support.

Mr Grayling said the average age of offending was 17 for a man and 15 for a woman.

He said most youths grow up to be law abiding citizens but there are a minority of repeat offenders.

He said: “Antisocial behaviour manifests itself in two ways; youth disorder on a Friday and Saturday night in the town centre and parks and the flow of teenagers coming out of schools in the afternoon.

“I don’t want us to be criminilising young people but we are too inclined to let people get away with it.”

Mr Grayling said he wanted to see less interference from the government in local policing matters.

“We want to change the relationship between central government and local policing.”

He said he wanted to give police more control over how they did their jobs, cutting down on the amount of administration they have to do so they can spend more time on the streets.

“We need to trust our police more and trust local commanders to oversee policing that is the way to get our police officers back in the town centres.”

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