HAS Home Secretary Jack Straw's pledge to fast-track youth justice been driven into the slow lane?

For, as a leading East Lancashire magistrate complains of it taking longer than ever to deal with young offenders and of cases going on for months we are witness to the ease with which it can be bogged down.

Up before bench chairman Ivan Smith at Hyndburn's youth court, an 18-year-old was pushed back into the pending queue for three weeks - because he had missed an interview with the probation officer drawing up his pre-sentence report.

Mr Smith was right to blast this kind of delay and the youth for not keeping the appointment.

But is not the ability of offenders to behave so casually towards the system as likely to be responsible for such hindrance to swift justice as the workload - or the inefficiency - to which the probation service must be subject if it takes three weeks to prepare a report on a single individual?

Just what is wrong in sending out a police officer to collar and drag in offenders who fail to keep their appointments?

Such a response might, initially, put the busy police under more strain, but it would hardly be for long if a few examples of it spelled out the message that appointments with probation officers are meant to be kept.

Meantime, perhaps Mr Straw will let us know how close he is to delivering his promise to halve the time it takes to bring young criminals to justice, or is it all just spin and gloss?

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