PROFESSIONALS who work with young people met yesterday for the relaunch of an agency that aims to prevent youth crime.

County Durham Youth Offending Team is now called the County Durham Youth Engagement Service.

It is hoped the image change will encourage young people to have a more positive relationship with police officers, teachers, social workers and probation workers.

A conference was held at Durham County Cricket Club yesterday to discuss the changes.

The head of the youth engagement service, Christina Blythe, said: "The reason for the change is that people think all we do is deal with children who are offending.

"But what we want to do is engage with young people to prevent offending so they become positive members of their community.

"We also need to remember that these are just children and if they are getting into trouble it is because they are troubled children."

As well as preventing youth crime, the service tries to stop re-offending through restorative justice.

This means encouraging young offenders to repair the harm they have done by making amends to their victim or the wider community. It could involve repairing property or removing graffiti.

The leader of Durham County Council, Councillor Ken Manton, said: "Children are getting involved in the youth justice system and staying there all their life. We want to break the cycle of crime, prison, probation, crime, prison, probation."

The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme targets two main groups of people who commit crime.

One is the small group of young people who persistently offend and commit a quarter of all offences. The other is youths who are not persistent offenders, but commit very serious crimes and who would benefit from early and inclusive intervention.

Youth Justice Board chief executive Mark Perfect said: "County Durham is identifying young people at risk of offending and is tackling the problem by encouraging them to go to schools and colleges of further education.

"We want to chat to their parents to make sure the young people make positive use of their leisure activities and that their parents are aware of who they are mixing with."