A TINY proportion of young people in Darlington are responsible for the majority of youth crime in the town, figures have shown.

A report prepared by the Darlington Youth Offender Service (YOS)showed that less than two per cent of children aged between 10 and 17 living in Darlington ever come into contact with the service, with a small hardcore of repeat offenders causing most of recorded youth crime.

The report, presented by Joanne Benson, leader of the Darlington YOS, to Darlington Borough Council’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee, revealed there were 144 male youth offenders and 25 female offenders in 2011/12.

Between them, those offenders committed 375 offences, a 5.3 per cent increase on the previous year when 33 females and 136 males were responsible for 356 youth offences.

Explaining the figures, Ms Benson said: “In Darlington we have got very small numbers of offenders and offences, so even two people can change our percentage figures dramatically.

“We have got a cohort of 53 young people in Darlington causing most of the problems and of those, 22 have reoffended – it’s a small proportion of young people who are hitting us hard. We are working to target those involved.

“It’s a misconception that there is a substance abuse problem in Darlington, but alcohol does play a role in a lot of offences, particularly where girls are involved.”

Despite the increase in offences this year, Darlington YOS has enjoyed a series of good results in recent years, including a 42 per cent decrease in first time offenders coming into the service since 2008 and low numbers of young people who enter custody.

The organisation has also had success with its restorative justice programme, where victims, witnesses and offenders are given the opportunity to meet face to face, which has been shown to have a positive effect on reoffending rates.

Councillors welcomed the report and debated whether the decrease in youth offending in Darlington was down to early intervention, change in social attitudes or young people themselves.

Coun Ian Galletley said: “Young people are better behaved than they used to be. I know schools are better now and they have higher standards but there’s also something happened in children themselves. They are not like they used to be.”