North Yorkshire law enforcement agencies are on the brink of meeting Home Secretary Jack Straw's target to deal quickly with persistent young offenders.

Labour pledged in 1997 to cut the period from arrest to sentence for these criminals, aged ten to 17, from 142 days to 71 by the next election.

In North Yorkshire, the average time in the three months to September was 73 days.

This compared to 84 in the previous three months and 62 in the first quarter of the year.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, said: "Since the summer, we have set a lot

of work in train, redoubling our efforts across the criminal justice system to

deal with the most difficult persistent young offender cases more quickly."

The fast-track punishment for these offenders was one of Labour's five key

pledges at the last election.

It is due to meet its promises to cut infant class sizes to no more than 30

pupils, reduce hospital waiting lists by 100,000 and avoid increasing income

tax.