Curfew orders and action plan orders are the least effective types of community sentence, according to Home Office figures released last week. The statistics, which are from 2003, show the number of juvenile offenders who were reconvicted within a year. Three-quarters of those with curfew orders were reconvicted, up 6.4 per cent on Home Office predictions based on the 2002 results. Six out of 10 of those placed on action plan orders - intensive, three-month community sentences - were reconvicted, up 5.1 per cent on the predicted level. Overall, the 2003 group was 2.4 per cent less likely to be...