Part of Offender Management Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:00 pm on 23 January 2007.
I am glad my hon. Friend the Member for Hornchurch is here because that is a point that he drew our during our evidence session. The evidence from that session is now available to the Committee and is on the table. The point that he made is that the continuous low-level interface between youngsters and the criminal justice system has not had the desired effect of deterring them from crime, so by the time they get to a point where they have done something that may require them to go inside, they have lost any fear of the criminal justice system. If my hon. Friend wishes to intervene on me to explain that point rather more eloquently, I would be happy to give way to him.