NOBODY wants to see young children criminalised.

All the evidence suggests that once a child has been dragged through the courts - and, even worse, ended up in custody - their prospects of a decent life are blighted.

A criminal record sticks: and bringing young children into contact with older, more hardened offenders is no way to turn them into model citizens. Today, we report on a call by the Centre For Crime And Justice Studies for a different approach to tackling youth crime.

The centre wants the age of criminal responsibility in this country raised from ten to 14. And it says there should be much less emphasis on prosecution and punishment of problem children, and more on their educational, social and mental health needs.

There is a lot of sense in this. Before any such reforms can be contemplated, however, there must be real evidence that they work.

Children are responsible for a shocking amount of crime. As we reported earlier this year, they committed more than 2,000 offences in York in a single year - more than a quarter of all the crime detected by police that year.

Youngsters as young as 12 are carrying knives and even firearms, points out Norman Brennan, director of the Victims Of Crime Trust.

Simply slapping the label "criminal" on young offenders then locking them away solves nothing. The Centre For Crime and Justice Studies is right about that. But neither can these children be allowed to get away with terrorising neighbourhoods.

One method for controlling unruly children that has been proven to work since time immemorial is good parenting.

Last week, The Press said parents must take more responsibility for their children's behaviour. So they must. But in addition, any strategy to tackle youth crime must look at how to help bad parents become better parents. That way lies the best hope.