The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, has been tackling the problems of teenagers having their MP3 players and mobile phones being stolen from them by thieves. Jacqui Smith and some of the leading technology companies have been looking at ways to combat this trend.

The Home Secretary stated:

We know that young people remain more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators.

I am delighted that so many of our best designers have contributed their time and expertise to today’s event and I look forward to seeing genuinely new and commercially viable products flow from it.

The role that good design can play in cutting crime is well established but success depends on effective partnerships between Government, the police and the design industry.

We have made a clear commitment in last year’s Crime Strategy to bring design into the centre of our fight against crime and to receive such strong support from our partners is extremely encouraging.

I want to ensure that young people are offered as much protection from crime as possible, and receive support if they do become victims, whilst also tackling offending vigorously.

Extending the British Crime Survey will help us to understand better how crime affects young people and do even more to prevent it. This summer we will publish a Youth Crime Action Plan to further coordinate this effort across Government.

This was prompted after a recent survey commissioned for the Home Office about crime relating to teenagers, which showed the following:

• 12% of 11-16 year olds have been the victim of theft relating to mobile technology and MP3 players within the last three years
• 97% of 11-16 year olds have some form of technology with them, such as an MP3 player, mobile or games console
• A third of the people who were victims of crime were using their technology at the time
• 85% of 11-16 year olds regularly have their mobile phones with them when they are out
• 35% of 11-16 year olds regularly have their MP3 player or iPod with them when they are out
• Almost 50% of 11-16 year olds stated that the value of their technology devices was between £100 and £500