Community justice to be extended across city
MORE community justice is set to be handed out in Sheffield. An experiment in bringing together the victim of anti-social behaviour or low level crime and the offender has been deemed "an incredible success" and is to be rolled out across the city.
At the same time, the police are preparing to launch an initiative in which the victim and offender are immediately brought face to face to agree appropriate reparation.
Councillors believe their approach is paying off in encouraging first time and minor wrong-doers to think about the impact on victims and the community and to deter them from committing more serious offences. They also avoid having a criminal record.
"It's a way of stopping the revolving door of crime and making people change their behaviour," said council leader Paul Scriven.
Sheffield is the first urban area in the country to introduce community justice panels and since their introduction last June they have dealt with cases such as criminal damage, assault, neighbour disputes and motorbike nuisance. after referrals from the police and social housing providers.
Victim and perpetrator meet under the guidance of trained community volunteers, giving the offender the chance to apologise and to make amends.
Examples have included a youth who rode a motorbike in a park spending four hours tidying up the park, 20 hours cleaning an area around a school after causing criminal damage to the school and a resident working on a neighbour's garden after a dispute.
Panels have met on 22 occasions, and only one person has gone on to be involved in anti-social behaviour.
So for the experiment has been conducted in areas covered by the Ecclesfield and Broomhall Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
Next Wednesday, after an evaluation of the results by Sheffield Hallam University, the council's cabinet is expected to decide that the strategy should be extended across the city.
Feedback is "extremely positive," says a council report. "Victims have highlighted the importance of having an opportunity to ensure that the wrong-doer understands the consequences of their actions and the impact of their behaviour.
"Victims also highlighted that community justice panels gave them a valuable opportunity to help the wrong-doer and give them a second chance.
"Wrong-doers expressed the importance of meeting victims face to face, apologising for their actions and seeking to repair the damage caused."
Coun Scriven said the experiment had proved an "incredible success", denying that the approach represented a soft option. "It is proving to be a hard option in that the offender has to come face to face with the victim and the consequences of their behaviour. It's life changing. The reoffending rate has plummeted.
Community justice panels were launched in Chard in Somerset where Coun Scriven said the reoffending rate had dropped to 3% compared with a national average of 60%.
He expects the number of cases tin Sheffield to increase significantly in line with the extra panels and the police's introduction of 'Instant Restorative Justice'.
This involves immediate face to face meetings on the street over minor offences with a view to securing an instant apology and reparation, possibly with referral to a community justice panel where more intensive support could be given.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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