The idea
Surely the best, and most efficient way to tackle youth crime is to hit the problem at its roots: The gap between privileged and un-privileged.
Most vandals and ASBO holders are from deprived areas where education is, let's say, not as strong as in other places. The emphasis in some, not all, of these areas is possibly the culprit. Possibly the biggest problem is the emphasis on C grades at GCSE Level. Students of a higher level in these areas are often forgotten about and the school focuses its full academic attention on those with a borderline grade performance. Students should all be encouraged to aim for the highest grades, rather than having the implication that they 'make do' with the bell-curve average.
Also, many youths who are members of a violent gang are, for the sake of argument, often not of as high an intellect as their non-violent counterparts. If, however, enough attention were paid to these people as they went through the base-levels of the education system, it is likely they would show no interest whatsoever in violence and narcotic
Solutions: 1-Close, or shrink, the gap between privileged and non-priviliged-Possibly by taxing the wealthy more, or offering incentives to Youths who achieve high-grade(A*,A,B) passes in exams. Incentives such as a one-off bonus payment of around £1000. This would easily be recouped later through the higher rates of income tax they would pay, and would also encourage youths to put a lot of effort into their education.
2-Encourage smaller class sizes at lower levels of education, and higher levels too if possible, allowing each student the attention they deserve.
3-Don't 'enemise' youths. Repeal the rights for the police to disperse groups of youths "just because".
Why is it important?
We need to restore a moral code into this country, there used to be respect shown by people for others. As the youths of today, me included, have been shown no respect as a punishment for other youths' misdemeanours, we are less likely to feel the need to show respect for others, and to an extent, their property too.