Whether criminal custody is an effective means of limiting or preventing crime is highly ambiguous, Hagell (2005:157) noted from a range of statistics and research that levels of custody do not necessarily reflect levels of juvenile crime or the effectiveness of custody on them, in this sense, patterns in the use of criminal custody are independently determined, as such, have little or no direct relationship to the volume or rather, the severity of youth crime with prison sanctions are more explained by references to the vagaries of political constraints and political contingencies. In early 1993 youth crime became a central focal point, particularly within the media, which regularly drew increasing attention to car crime, youth disorder, children and young people committing crime while in voyage. bail. However, such phenomena were vaguely reported and little effort was made to distinguish or even explain the specifics of various forms of antisocial behavior, rather it was easier to label any problem the child posed as out of control or a threat to society . The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 introduced new punitive powers in three significant ways: firstly, the Act lowered the age threshold from 14 to 10 years for the imposition of intermediate sentences where children are being convicted of serious crimes, secondly, it doubled the maximum fixed length of prison sentences in institutions for young offenders and thirdly, the law introduced a new prison sentence, the Secure Training Order which would be served in a private prison, the Secure training center. The number of prison sentences imposed on children increased from around 4,000 per year in 1992 to 7,600 in 2001, a 90% increase ( Na...... half of the document ...... such custody appears to involve a 'further social exclusion. To take this further, the home to which young offenders return can also exacerbate any positive outcomes achieved whilst in criminal custody. If they return to a violent or unsupportive environment, then the chances of reoffending to leave a such situation are quite high. As mentioned above, the routine and stability they might find in these institutions could outweigh the risk of another crime. Therefore, serious questions need to be asked about whether criminal custody is an appropriate sentence you are dealing with young children, support for this can be seen within youth offending teams who have been given specific targets to reduce the use of criminal custody, and the Youth Justice Committee aims to reduce the number of children detained by 10% by 2007 (Council for Youth Justice), 2004).