but Government has been urged to review legislation to deal with young habitual criminals.

If Finance Minister Eugene Cox's budget for 2001 is agreed, work could get underway immediately on building the state-of-the-art facility in Pembroke.

It will house up to 48 young people, boys and girls, and offer both low and high security areas to cater for very serious offenders and adolescents at risk.

As well as providing counselling facilities, it will also provide children with a full-time education. The idea is to correct their behaviour and return each of the offenders to society and, where possible, mainstream education.

Last night, Sgt. Terry Maxwell, who heads the Police cycle crime unit, welcomed the move but urged ministers to review laws to enable juvenile criminals to be dealt with more severely.

He said at the moment, the law was not properly equipped to deal with young habitual offenders.

"I would say that a lot of motorcycle theft is committed by people aged about 13 to 15. Some are joyriders, others strip them down and sell off the parts,'' he said "But it is frustrating because at the moment the law can do hardly anything to schoolboys -- no matter what they do. We need to have the law looked at regarding juvenile offenders. They need to look at the penalties because right now they cannot be incarcerated.

"We should have punishments in place that are suitable to the crimes. We need a deterrent. Quite often all they get now is a slap on the wrist.'' Health and Social Services Minister Nelson Bascome said he was delighted to see funding for the Pathways Village included in the budget.

He said providing a new purpose-built facility for young criminals aged 17 or under on the Island had been one of his biggest objectives since the Progressive Labour Party came into power.

He said: "This has been something I have wanted to see since I came into office. "I had a mandate that I would not be incarcerating juveniles with adults because of the negative environment and also the behaviour that we generated when we had juveniles and adults together in the past.

"We want to correct behaviour, not make it worse, so this new facility will assist us do that. This will be the first centre of its kind on the Island. It will have a dual purpose -- it will not only cater for high security offenders, but those who need help. It will be high security and residential.

"It will allow us to start to address the multiple issues that our young people are facing. It will provide the protective environment that is needed to enhance their behaviour. The idea is that it is correctional.'' A lot of the residential homes that are used at the moment for housing young offenders may be then modified or transformed for other uses.

Many are not suitable to house young offenders, offering insufficient security -- but Mr. Bascome said the new facility will offer a safe and secure environment for the juveniles, as well as the community.

Bid to deal with young offenders Mr. Cox has allocated $4.2 million for construction of the development to get underway in the next 12 months, but the total investment needed is estimated to be around $9 million. It is hoped it will be completed in 2003/2004.

Sgt Maxwell sees a lot of juvenile criminals hard at work. He said the law must be changed to enable magistrates and judges to lock them up for prolonged periods. He has urged Mr. Bascome to review The Children's Act, and suggest changes where necessary. At the moment, care orders can only be passed and children under 17 are not allowed to be put behind bars. He heads a cycle theft unit, which last year saw almost 1,000 motorcycles stolen -- most of them taken by thieves aged between 13 and 15. Sgt. Maxwell said some habitual offenders committed scores and scores of crimes.

He added: "We are involved in an investigation that took place over the Christmas period and it involves a number of juveniles and amounts to cycles being taken worth more than $100,000. There are more than 40 bikes involved.

"We see things like this, but right now there is not sufficient penalties in place to deal with them properly. I would like to see that changed.'' Mr. Bascome said he would be looking at the law and how it coincided with the new facility, but did not wish to comment at this time.