Youths are getting away with sexual and violent assaults in swathes of England, we can today reveal.

Exposing the sentencing postcode lottery, a Daily Mail investigation found that 27 of 157 (17 per cent) local justice teams didn't dole out any custodial sentences to children last year.

This is despite some having committed heinous offences in crime-ridden pockets of London, Berkshire and Devon.

In contrast, one in six youths were handed custodial sentences in Southend-on-Sea – more than anywhere else in the country.

The youth justice system is committed to not locking up children if it can be avoided, with a focus instead on stopping reoffending. Curfews, unpaid work, and orders to directly apologise to victims and their families are punishments typically doled out. 

As few as 6 per cent of sentences for the most serious crimes resulted in immediate custody in 2024/25, official figures show.

More than four in five ended in community sentences instead.

For knife and offensive weapon offences, 58 per cent of outcomes were community-based penalties rather than detention.

Serious crimes, as per the government's wording, were defined as anything above a five on an eight-point scale.

For example, rape would sit at the top end for sexual assault, whereas coercing a similar-aged peer into having sex would be classed as a lighter crime. Similarly for violence, attempted murder would be a level eight.

Of the 27 youth justice areas that didn't issue a single custodial sentence last year, 293 serious crimes – the bulk of which were marked as violence, sexual and robbery – were committed in 22 of them. 

Our analysis comes after outrage erupted last summer over the sentencing of a 15-year-old boy who savagely beat an 80-year-old dog walker to death. 

Bhim Kohli was punched, kicked and slapped in the face with a shoe by the balaclava-clad teen near his home in Leicester, while a 13-year-old girl filmed and laughed. 

Mr Kohli, who was called a 'P*** bastard' during the vicious assault, died in hospital the next day having suffered a broken neck and fractured ribs.

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was convicted of manslaughter and received a seven year sentence in June. A review ruled the punishment was not unduly lenient.

The girl involved was handed a three-year youth rehabilitation order, despite protests from Mr Kohli's family.

Two teenage boys who stabbed a father to death as he delivered shopping to his mother were, however, last month jailed for life.

Marcus Staniforth, 17, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons, approached Kamran Aman after he dropped groceries at his mother's home in Barry, South Wales.

The pair punched and kicked Mr Aman, 38, while the 16-year-old also shouted racist abuse during and after the unprovoked attack.

Staniforth fetched a kitchen knife from a nearby property, where the teenagers had been drinking alcohol, and used it to stab Mr Aman in the heart.

Both were sentenced to detention with Staniforth to serve at least 17 years in custody and the 16-year-old to serve at least 15 years.

Overall, the total number of custodial sentences handed out to children decreased by 7 per cent compared with the previous year to around 610.

Additionally, the average number of children in custody at any one time fell by 3% per cent year-on-year (from 431 to 418).

The increasingly soft-touch sentences come after mobs of brazen youths made headlines for running wild in Clapham last week.

Clips circulating on social media showed crowds of teens laughing as they tore through the south London neighbourhood, terrorising locals and forcing shops to close.

Fires were spotted burning on the fields of Clapham Common, the stench of cannabis hung in the air and families reported being 'barricaded' inside a local Sainsbury's.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed two teenage girls had been arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker following the social-media-fueled rampage.

Rachel de Souza, Children's Commissioner for England and Wales, told the Daily Mail: 'The rising level of serious crimes being committed by children, including drug and sexual offences, in some parts of the country is deeply concerning.

'Urgent action is needed to stop children being exposed to criminality and drawn into offending.

'Any time a child commits a serious offence there must be measured and appropriate consequences, but punishment alone will not solve the problems many vulnerable young people are facing.

'When a child becomes involved in serious crime – whether as a victim, perpetrator, or often both – it is a clear sign something has gone badly wrong in their lives.'

She added: 'If we are serious about tackling crime we must be just as serious about protecting children by providing early interventions, strong youth services and the right support to families – especially those dealing with poverty, exploitation, violence or poor mental health – before it comes too late.'