RESIDENTS in crime-hit areas of Hampshire are to sit in judgement over the young tearaways.

In the latest move against law-breaking youngsters, crimebusters are looking to recruit people to oversee the punishment of offenders as young as ten.

By spring next year, volunteers from communities affected by youth crime will man special panels overseeing the punishment of under-17s convicted for the first time.

They will be given the power to force youngsters who have admitted non-imprisonable offences to apologise to the victims of their crimes in a face-to-face meeting and to carry out community work of their choosing.

If the youngster does what they say, his or her conviction will be wiped from the records when they have served their punishment.

If not, they will be sent back to magistrates court to face a stiffer sentence.

Parents will have to accompany their children to regular panel meetings to account for their behaviour, progress and achievements.

Members of the Wessex Youth Offending Team, who will oversee the scheme, hope it will be another hard-hitting step towards keeping youngsters out of prison.

Crimefighters are already set to trial the electronic tagging of children as part of a Big Brother-style crackdown on repeat offending.

Of the new panels - each of which will be made up of two trained volunteers and a youth justice expert - team manager Philip Sutton said: "We will try to recruit people who perhaps come from the same neighbourhood as the young people.

"It's part of our strategy to make neighbourhoods responsible for the young people in their area.

"Really it's intervention before the kids become entrenched in a life of crime.

"It recognises that quite a lot of kids in trouble for the first time will grow out of it with the right sort of support."

Youth justice chiefs will be launching their recruitment drive next month and hope to sign up a wide range of volunteers, particularly from ethnic minorities.

The scheme has been welcomed by the magistrates who will be referring the offenders to the panels.

Jonathan Black, clerk to the justices for the Hampshire magistrates courts committee, said: "These panels will be more community-based than the lay magistracy.

"Because they will meet at the weekends and evenings, I think the panels will be more attractive to those members of the community who want to give something back but felt they couldn't before."