Tony Blair launching the new scheme

The idea is that instead of sending young criminals to jail, they will be made to go back on the streets and tidy things up - scrub down the graffiti, pick up litter, paint the railings.

There are more than 10,000 young offenders (aged 15 to 20) in prison in England and Wales, and many of those are serving time for yobbish crimes.

But a short, sharp shock at Her Majesty's pleasure is not always the best solution, says the government. Prison is a costly drain on the Treasury and re-offending rates for young prisoners are high.

Restorative justice, of which the new Community Payback scheme is an example, is touted as an alternative to prison-style punitive discipline.

Full impact

It seeks to nip youth crime in the bud by making offenders face up to the full impact of their actions without criminalising them.

A common crime among the young

The principle came into force in April last year with the setting up of Youth Offending Teams, but to date has only been applied to situations in which a crime had an identifiable victim.

The latest push is to widen the scope of restorative justice to so-called victimless crimes - vandalising council-owned property and the like.

The philosophy has been popular in New Zealand where it derived from Maori tribal tradition. About 80% of young offenders go through the restorative process. There is no formal finger wagging and no charges are laid.

One of the most long-running pilots in the UK has been in the Thames Valley area, where re-offending rates were cut from about 30% to just 4%.

Soft option?

But critics are wary of the figures. Recent research carried out in Scotland found that when it comes to re-offending rates there is little difference between hard and soft options.

Crime statistics from 1995 revealed that almost half of all offenders went on to commit another crime within two years, whether they had been sent to prison or had received some other type of sentence.

The consequences of violent attacks

Exactly what an offender is asked to do to repay his debt varies widely. Youngsters who steal cars might spend time at a crashed car pound, violent youngsters might find themselves sitting in the casualty department of a hospital on a Friday night, arsonists might spend time with a fire service.

But there is also an emphasis on mediation - getting offenders to contact their victims and see the consequences of their actions.

Supporters of restorative justice highlight the benefits it can bring to the victims themselves. Offenders might have to write a letter of apology or make a supervised telephone call, or even make a video apology.

Experts also suggest that while it may sound like a soft touch, the public could be well disposed to the idea.

Martin Wright, author of Restoring Respect for Justice, says: "Most victims are satisfied at seeing some good come from the harm they suffered and most offenders think it is fair."