The process of identifying the "core 50" to be targeted for a Youth Inclusion Programme is done by a lengthy scoring process.
According to the Youth Crime Panel, the process involves giving young people at risk a 'score' to assess who is the most in need.
This process, which is carried out without the knowledge of the children involved, is repeated every six months to ensure that the right people are being targeted.
It is a multi-agency process and is aimed at identifying those who are offenders, but also those who are risk of offending in the future and those at risk of being excluded from school.
The person in charge of the project is called the "ID manager" and it is their job to liaise with the many agencies who take part in the process.
Forms are sent out to the agencies - including Youth Offending Schemes, Social Services, the Local Education Authority, the police and local schools.
Each agency is asked to give a risk assessment score on all of the young people on their books, as well as giving an assessment of the potential for future risk.
This data is then entered onto what is known as a "Youth at Risk" matrix (a spreadsheet), which could include hundreds of local youths.
Each child will have a score from each agency (1 for low risk, 3 for high risk) next to his or her name, and a grand total.
It is from these totals that the youngsters who are most "at risk" of becoming offenders or being excluded are identified.
The final steps involve meetings with members of the outside agencies where the matrix is discussed and the final list of the core 50 is drawn up.
This is seen as an opportunity for members of the agencies (e.g. social services) to use their personal knowledge to ensure the list is accurate and representative.
After the "core 50" has been identified, members of the project are them free to "engage" the youths in a bid to get them interested in the programmes they have on offer.