Dysfunctional parents of child criminals are "guilty of child abuse", the home secretary has claimed.

As the government steps up its effort to tackle soaring levels of street crime, David Blunkett warned persistent young offenders that they face round-the-clock detention as they await trial.

"One of the biggest challenges we face is how to deal with young offenders who believe that their age makes them untouchable, who flout the law, laugh at the police and leave court on bail free to offend again," he said.

"The public are sick and tired of their behaviour and expect the criminal justice system to be able to keep them off the streets.

"That is why I am today closing the loophole in the law that allows these young persistent offenders to walk away from court on bail to create further havoc in the community."

Under current laws magistrates can only put young people on remand if they have been charged with a serious crime.

Under the new approach, Section 130 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 will apply to 12-16-year-olds who "consistently break the law" when out on bail.

The new powers will be rolled out to target 10 crime hotspots and will be nationally available from September.

The move is being seen as an attempt to crack down on hundreds of repeat offenders who continue to rampage through the streets whilst on bail - generating high levels of public fear of crime and tabloid headlines proclaiming "lawless Britain".

But the move will add to fears about the cost of a soaring prison population.

Critics of the plan have warned the home secretary that young offenders' institutions are already at full capacity and will be unable to cope with the predicted increase in numbers.

Squandering money

Responding to Blunkett's proposals, the Howard League said the plans "will squander vast sums of public money to expand the number of child jails".

"Locking up children for short periods whilst they await trial is a failed policy that will lead to more crime and misery," said its director Frances Crook.

"Taxpayers would prefer their money was spent on crime prevention with children - more expert teachers to deal with truanting children, more community police officers, more support for foster families who look after children on remand. The government is making a serious mistake."

Child abuse

Launching an extension of "parenting orders", Blunkett slammed parents who allow their children to create havoc on the streets.

"I do not underestimate the need to change parental attitudes in certain quarters," he said.

"In my view, parents who kick their children out of the house in the evening or allow their 11-year-olds to drink alcohol and create chaos in their communities are as guilty of child abuse as if they had broken their arm."

The new parenting drive will include giving the parents of young thugs, who are yet to be convicted of any crime, a formal warning that they risk heavy fines unless they curb the anti-social behaviour of their children.

The plans could also see parents losing their council house if their offspring engage in persistent anti-social behaviour.

The new orders are being billed as a way of making parents "take greater responsibility for their children's actions".

Counselling

Parents could also be forced to attend counselling and guidance sessions under the new plans.

"Parenting Orders are not solely about punishing parents but about ensuring they have the skills they need to keep their children out of trouble," he said.

"But if parents fail to comply, further action will be taken holding them to account for their children's behaviour."

By supporting positive parenting, the home secretary argues that criminality can be halted in the child's early years before a cycle of offending is established.

"It goes without saying that the younger the child, the greater the influence a parent will have," he said.

"That's why I want to find a way of enabling courts to issue Parenting Orders before bad behaviour has become criminal behaviour.

"The aim is to offer parents proper support when it can still make an immediate and obvious impact on their child's behaviour, and to cut out as much of the red tape as possible to make parenting orders easier to use."

Alarm

Ministers have expressed alarm in recent months at soaring levels of street crime, often involving the street theft of mobile phones by teenage youths.

Blunkett told his audience of youth justice experts that more must be done by the police and agencies such as the Youth Justice Board to develop new systems to identify young people at risk of offending.

The home secretary has already announced plans to tag youth offenders as young as 12 and now wants to tackle child criminals as young as 10 years old.

"Crime, however, is not restricted to those aged 12 and over," he said.

"I am looking seriously at how we can now strengthen the law in respect of those 10 and 11 year olds who commit persistent but low level crime and who fall outside the range of powers which I am laying before parliament today."

The Intensive Supervision and Surveillance Programme, (ISSP), is also to be extended giving "a tough alternative to custody for those young people for whom crime is fast becoming a way of life".

"We are sending out a clear warning to youngsters who think that they are above the law - you will be caught and you will be punished," he warned.

"There is still some fine-tuning to be done with ISSPs. There is too much red-tape and bureaucracy attached to them.

"And some young offenders need more than three months to make a lasting change to their behaviour. But the ISSP scheme is working and we are looking to expand it."

The ISSP tagging system, announced in February, will allow magistrates to impose curfews on young offenders on bail - keeping them off the streets but out of prison.

New drive

In recent months the government has urged the police to tackle youth crime head-on.

Tony Blair is said to be alarmed that the surge in street crime could damage Labour's reputation on law and order.

The prime minister is to lead a renewed government effort on street crime.

He has called for new research into muggings and violence in London and will meet with Met commissioner Sir John Stevens to discuss the crisis on the Capital's streets.

Blair will demand to know why people in London are six times more likely to be mugged than they are in New York.

Home Office insiders fear that a whole generation of young people is growing up with no respect for the police.

School's out

A new police standards unit at the Home Office will lead a campaign to crackdown on crime committed soon after schools break up for the day.

Government research shows that in some hotspots, including London, crime soars soon after school ends.

In the Capital, recent evidence from the Metropolitan Police found high volumes of serious crime amongst children of school age.

Data shows that one in three crimes carried out by young people take place between 3.00pm and 6.00pm.

Ministers want to see a greater police presence outside schools as a visible deterrent to young thugs.