MORE than a third of young offenders in Bournemouth and Poole are back in trouble with the law within a year, according to a Ministry of Justice report.

Between October 2015 to September 2016, the latest published data, 200 young offenders either left custody, received a non-custodial conviction or received a caution across the two boroughs.

Of those, 72 committed another proven offence within a year.

Each re-offender committed an average of three crimes within this period.

The 200 young offenders, aged under 18, also had 593 previous convictions between them.

The Ministry of Justice says that, since the figures only measure offences resulting in convictions or cautions, this could be a significant underestimate of the true level of reoffending.

However Law Society youth justice practitioner Greg Stewart said the way that juvenile crime is handled could be behind the apparent high reoffending rate.

Mr Stewart, a practising defence lawyer for 25 years, said children tend to only appear in court for more serious crimes, rather than minor misdemeanours.

"As a result, those young people who are left still offending are the 'kernel' of offenders, often with complex and compound issues and serious problems at home and school."

Mr Stewart said that budget cuts to local youth programs have also contributed to the problem.

He said: "The savings that will have been made by the reduced charging rates are not being reinvested in rehabilitating the more vulnerable repeat offenders."

In England and Wales, 42 per cent of juvenile offenders committed another crime within a year, committing an average of 3.9 offences each.

Youngsters were marginally more likely to reoffend than adults.

In Bournemouth 34 per cent of 2,233 adult offenders reoffended over the same period, and in Poole 27 per cent of 949 offenders. Nationally, 29 per cent of adults reoffended.

The Standing Committee for Youth Justice, members of which include Barnardo's and the NSPCC, says the harsher the punishment, the more likely under-18s are to reoffend.

Deputy chairman Penelope Gibbs said: "If we want to reduce the reoffending of children we need to try and keep them out of the formal criminal justice system and out of prison.

"We instead need to address the trauma, mental health problems and behavioural difficulties which lead to them committing crime in the first place."

Rory Geoghegan, head of criminal justice at think-tank the Centre for Social Justice, said that if a young person ends up in the criminal justice system, rehabilitation programs that foster strong community links can also prevent reoffending.

He said: "We can make better use of the time served on a sentence by plugging young people into positive and trusted networks and organisations, such as community centres and youth organisations."