Martin Spragg of Exeter, manager of Devon's Youth Offending Services at Devon County Council, has been invited to Downing Street on 28 January to celebrate five years of the reformed Youth Justice System.

Martin's team works with the police, health and other authorities involved with pre-crime prevention, restorative justice, and with young offenders and victims of crime.

'Most of our work is with youngsters aged 10 to 17 years who have committed an offence and increasingly with those we consider to be at risk of offending. In other words, we try to prevent offences before they happen by working with youngsters who for what ever social reasons, might potentially turn to crime or anti-social behaviour."

Martin is pleased with the Downing Street invitation. "Since the Government reformed the Youth Justice System we've seen major improvements in the effectiveness of dealing with young people who break the law.

'More young people and their parents and carers are effectively worked with at earlier stages to tackle the underlying causes of their behaviour.

'The system now works much quicker so that young people and the public see that there is a rapid response.

'This invitation to Downing Street is a welcome recognition of our achievements which are thanks to the dedication, hard work and investment of all the staff and agencies involved in the Devon Youth Offending Partnership.'

Devon's Youth Offending Team (YOT) has consistently featured in the top ten percent of YOTs in the country in Government league tables, and has been the best Shire YOT throughout 2003.

They recently won a prestigious Community Care award with the charity Headway who work with people with acquired brain injuries. The two have worked in Exmouth to introduce young people who have committed an offence that might have caused a brain injury, such as assault or dangerous driving, with people with brain injuries, as part of their community penalty.

The initiative is believed to be one of the first of its kind in the country and aims to stop further dangerous offending.

Of the seventeen young offenders involved with the project who have met Exmouth Headway members, none have re-offended.

Such restorative justice gives victims the chance to ask questions of the offenders, and the opportunity for offenders to see the real impact of their offence. Introductions often result in apology to the victim.

Martin said, 'Victims are now comprehensively involved, with a real opportunity to influence what happens to the offender, including the chance for direct reparation and making amends for the damage, loss and distress they have caused.'

Other notable successes for Devon's YOT include the very impressive reductions in the length of time between arrest and sentence.

The national average length of time between arrest and sentence is 66 days, but in Devon that figure is 45 days for persistent young offenders and much less for others who are often sentenced at court within three weeks of their arrest.

Minimising the length of time between arrest and sentence makes the punishment more relevant to the offence', explains Martin.

'In the past, when an offender was sentenced a long time after the offence, the punishment was too far removed from the crime, and for the offender there appeared to be little link between the two. Sentencing as soon as possible after the offence links the punishment with the crime and allows us to get to work quickly on dealing with that young person.'

FOR more Devon news, order a regular copy of the Sunday Independent. FIRST. BEST. EVERY SUNDAY...