A NORTH Yorkshire organisation which helps to steer young offenders away from a life of crime has won national acclaim.

North Yorkshire Youth Offending Team (YOT), which sees a range of police, social services, probation, health and education experts working together to tackle youth crime, has leapt from 37th to 22nd place in a national league table of 155 youth offending teams across the country.

Prepared by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, the table measures progress towards 13 key targets to reduce youth crime. These include the reduction of re-offending, improving support for victims of youth crime, and providing quick, efficient services to local police and courts.

The team assesses young offenders and makes recommendations to the police and courts. It also directly supervises many young offenders giving them help to improve their behaviour and closely monitoring their progress.

If their offending remains serious or persistent then the team can arrange for closer control of the young person through electronic tagging, intensive supervision and surveillance or ultimately by custodial detention.

Jeremy Walker, the county council's chief executive and chairman of the YOT steering group, said: "We welcome the national performance assessment and applaud the YOT staff for their commitment and creative work.

"During the coming months further inter-agency development will build on this success by ensuring close links between by the YOT's work and a new local preventative strategy for children's well-being."

Steve Walker, acting YOT manager added: "Providing effective services to the diverse communities of North Yorkshire is a real challenge for the YOT and I'm very proud of the team's achievements. The national comparison shows that we are working successfully with young offenders and their families and also with the victims of youth crime."

Barry Graham, team leader of restorative justice, said the team was planning to launch a restorative justice service this year, which would be one of the first in the region.

He said: "This will promote the welfare and interests of victims in the criminal justice system, and it will support the rehabilitation of young offenders by using victim-offender mediation, community work and other constructive approaches."

Updated: 08:50 Wednesday, April 09, 2003