Young offender to stray -- or get better? (7)
I believe the answer is:
improve
'get better?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'young offender to stray' is the wordplay.
'young offender' becomes 'imp' (I've seen this in other clues).
'to stray' becomes 'rove' ('rove' can be a synonym of 'stray').
'imp'+'rove'='IMPROVE'
'or' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for improve that I've seen before include "Make progress" , "reform" , "pick up" , "Get or make better" , "Enhance" .)