A TOTAL of 26 first time offenders -- aged as young as 11 -- have been sent by Bolton magistrates to pioneering punishment panels where members of the public decide their fate.

So many orders have been issued by the magistrates that Bolton's youth offending team has been forced to increase the number of panels sitting to one each weekday night.

The youths have all been issued with referral orders -- which came into force at the start of the month -- by the town's courts.

But the number of victims of crimes taking up the option of sitting on the panels has been disappointing. The team now intends to appoint a Victim Liaison Officer to convince more people to participate.

Keith Harper, Bolton Youth Offending Team's project development officer, said: "It has picked up a bit quicker than we expected. One week we had nine orders and we had to hold a panel every night."

The panels enter into a contract with young offenders which could include sending them to work in the community, education programmes, or drug rehabilitation programmes.

The aim of the scheme is to teach the youngsters the error of their ways before they slip into more serious crime.

Mr Harper said: "I think the panels will help to nip offences in the bud in a lot of cases where kids have committed the sort of crimes which would have merited a fine before.

"However we are also getting a lot of very minor crimes such as traffic offences where evidence shows they would not have probably reoffended anyway."

The national rate for victims sitting on panels is 10 per cent. Bolton is below that at the moment.

Mr Harper added: "One victim has agreed to speak to the panel on an audio tape which is novel. It does take courage for victims to meet offenders but it is also very daunting for the young person, and it's extremely effective."

The new Victim Liaison Officer will be recruited over the next few months.