Young offenders head to US on project

The conference was organised by the Irish Penal Reform Trust, which published a report calling on the Department of Justice to devise a specific strategy for young adults to mirror the juvenile justice system.

Five young adult offenders are to travel with gardaí to visit a successful youth justice programme in Boston in what has been described as a groundbreaking pilot project.

The initiative was raised at a conference yesterday highlighting the need to extend the current approach for dealing with juveniles to young offenders aged 18-24.