Youth crime 'costing £300,000 a day'

YOUTH crime costs Scotland £300,000 a day, or £112 million a year, new figures have revealed.

The Conservatives, using figures from a Prince's Trust study, say it proves the country is failing to deal with offending among young people.

Most of the costs are met by the police and the health service, with the majority of victims of youth crime being young people themselves.

The study, which was carried out in 2008 but only recently published, also shows convictions among 18 to 21-year-olds are proportionately higher in Scotland than the rest of the UK for the first time in 14 years.

John Lamont, the Scottish Conservatives' justice spokesman, said: "These are shocking figures which ram home the true extent of youth crime in Scotland and the horrific cost to taxpayers."