That is one of the conclusions contained in a study carried out by the Audit Commission into the Youth Justice System.

BBC's Stephen Cape sets out the findings of the Audit Commission report

The Crime and Disorder Bill, which is progressing through Parliament, aims to halve the average four-and-a-half month span between the arrest of a young suspect and sentencing.

But the report finds that in some areas the waiting time is still at the top end of the scale, with most of the delay occurring before the child even gets to court.

The report also says that more than £70m is being wasted in the system for dealing with young offenders who commit several million crimes a year, costing the country an estimated £3bn.

Pressure is on the police to cut remand times

Two years ago the Commission reported that the vast majority of the £1bn a year spent on tackling youth crime was being wasted on bureaucracy.

News of the long waiting times will put renewed pressure on agencies which must prepare for the streamlining set out in the new Bill.

Many probation, social services and police forces still have to do "an awful lot of work" to prepare for their new roles, the commission said.

The Bill also brings in a range of new powers to deal with teenage tearaways, placing a further work burden on the same agencies.

The study found existing national targets on processing cases quickly were being widely missed.

Problem areas include:

• Pre-sentence reports on young criminals. These should be completed within 15 working days, but across England and Wales just a quarter are done in that time.

• Offenders given supervision orders by courts are supposed to have their first interview with a probation officer within five working days. But staff in nearly half the local authority areas were failing to achieve this.

• Those under a supervision order who miss more than two sessions in a year were unlikely to be reported to the court, as required. The study found that although 40% of young offenders should have been "breached", only 16% were.

Jack Straw: "System slow and uncoordinated"

Working practices of youth justice workers also come under fire. On average, the report found, they spent just a third of their time with young criminals trying to stop them re-offending.

Most of their working hours were devoted to meetings, time in court or paperwork and travelling.

Report author David Browning said: "Some places are going to have to do an awful lot of work."

The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, welcomed the report, saying it showed "long-standing problems" with the existing system.

Sir Norman Fowler: "Labour failing"

He said: "Our slow and uncoordinated youth justice system means that not enough is done to address offending behaviour, leaving many young offenders still facing justice far too late for it to have any effect."

Shadow Home Affairs spokesman Sir Norman Fowler said the report showed Labour's "early pledge" to speed up youth justice had not been fulfilled.

He said on average it took 131 days from arrest to sentencing - an increase on the 121 days reported by the Audit Commission in 1996.