The Juvenile Court should be reformed to better deal with increased crimes, according to a consultation document on a new national youth policy.

Launched yesterday by Youth Parliamentary Secretary Chris Agius, the consultation document calls on stakeholders to propose improvements to the youth justice system, among several other aspects of youth life.

It notes that the number of cases in the Juvenile Court rose steadily from 49 in 2006 to 110 in 2011.

Those appearing there are, on average, 15 years old and most likely to have committed an offence against a person in their locality.

They are usually given a suspended sentence or placed under probation.

A similar report, drawn up by the Children’s Commissioner in 2011, suggested lowering the workload of social workers from 40 to 10 cases each, special training for legal aides assigned to juveniles and a reform of the interrogation protocol for minors.

Although the new consultation document does not go into detail as how to improve the system, it does call for a debate aimed at overhauling it.

Mr Agius said the first national youth policy was drafted 20 years ago and changes were needed to reflect contemporary society.

A six-month public consultation on the document is expected to lead to a set of policies being drafted, set to run until 2020.

Drawn up by a new national policy advisory committee, the document also suggests supporting new businesses run by young people.

On integration, it proposes initiatives to help better integrate migrants in schools and the community as well as outreach centres.

A specific Gozo policy that includes setting up youth hubs and funds to boost youth participation in democratic activities is also proposed.