HALF of teenage offenders in Southampton commit another crime within 12 months of release, new figures reveal.

The number of fresh crimes being carried out has also risen sharply, to close to four by each reoffender.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) statistics cover the many hundreds of young people released in the year up to June 2011, compared with the previous year.

They show that in Southampton, the proportion who committed new offences – within the following 12 months – soared from 40.4 per cent to 48.3 per cent.

Only two inner London boroughs, Islington (49.8 per cent) and Lewisham (49.3 per cent) have worse re-offending records than Southampton. The national average is 36 per cent.

Meanwhile, the crime spree also saw the average number of fresh offences committed by each teenager who returned to law-breaking leap from 3.2 to 3.63.

Again, that is one of the worst figures in England and Wales and far higher than the national average of 2.88 offences, in the year following June 2011.

The Isle of Wight also recorded a rise in the proportion of re-offenders, from 36 per cent to 39 per cent, but that percentage fell in Hampshire from 31.5 per cent to 30.4 per cent.

Councillor Satvir Kaur, Southampton City Council’s Cabinet member for communities, said: “While I’m disappointed that our reoffending figures were as high as this two years ago, since then there has been a great deal of work in this area which has led to a significant reduction and we will continue along this path to ensure that this trend continues. “We know that we have a comparatively small number of young people committing a high level of offences.

“Robust work involving the Youth Offending Service, Hampshire Constabulary and Southampton City Council Community Safety Team is under way in respect of these individuals and we are confident that this is having a significant impact upon reducing reoffending.

“In addition, three Families Matter workers are now based in the Youth Offending Service, providing extra resources to work with young offenders and their families.

“The work that Southampton Youth Offending Service undertakes with the police around diverting young people from crime will also contribute to a reduction.”

Nationally, Labour suggested the statistics showed the Government had “taken its eye off the ball”, warning that youth re-offending costs the country £11bn a year.

Ministers said they were further evidence that a major overhaul of youth custody was badly needed.

Under those plans, teenage criminals would be sent to “secure colleges”, modelled on what ministers believe are the successes of academies and ‘free’ schools.