What are the strengths and weaknesses of New Labours approach to youth crime?

Youth crime has been suggested as being synonymous with the problem of crime as a whole. The youth of today have been categorised as being dangerous, deviant, barbaric, troublesome, anti-social and irresponsible (Munice, 1999;172). With such assumptions it has been perceived that the crimes committed by youths have drastically risen and this it appears has forced the Government into a devising a much stricter social policy (Nacro, 2002). New Labour has entered into the Government in 1997, with a wider range of policies to tackle the supposed disorder of youth crime, with the introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. The government were much more focused on being tough on the causes of crime and forcing the delinquents to be responsible for their actions by facing up to the crimes that they have committed (Fionda, 1999; 37)….(short extract)