Issue - meetings

To receive an introduction to the Restorative Processes used within Cheshire Youth Offending Services.

The Committee received an introduction to restorative justice. The report outlined to Members that a restorative justice approach had been adopted in Youth Justice since the original youth justice reforms in 1998.  Two of the key aims of the Youth Justice Service were to confront young people with the consequences of their offending for themselves, their families, their victims and the community and to encourage and facilitate reparation to victims by young offenders.   Alongside this, April 2006 saw the introduction of the statutory Victims Code of Practice to support these aims.  The Code stipulated the minimum level of service to be provided to victims of crime in England and Wales and under the Code, no single organisation had an obligation to support every victim, but it aimed to ensure that all victims had access to appropriate and timely support, suitable for their individual needs.

The Committee was informed that service had received funding until March 2011 for two Restorative Practice Workers and that the Budget for the service was made up of Government, Local Authority and external funding. The service was currently equally split between Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester. It was note that crime rates in Cheshire West and Chester were only marginally higher that in Cheshire East.

It was noted that the service should be notified as a matter of course, when the Police Action Restorative Justice and that it should only be used for first time offenders. However it had come to light that it had been used for repeat offenders by the Police, work was now being undertaken to tackle this issue.

With regard to Compensation Orders, it was noted that only orders made by the Court were enforceable and that any compensation agreed through the Youth Justice Service had no legal backing.

The Committee agreed that the service appeared to be good value for money as only around one third of youths repeat offend. However it was agreed that the Committee would receive the statistics to support this in due course.

It was agreed that the service should work closer with the third sector and Fire Authority with regard to the types of community payback that could be used and that due to the possible future budget cuts the service would also need to be more creative.

It was noted that the Committee would be receiving a report on restorative Justice from the Police perspective at its meeting scheduled to be held on 18 January 2011.

RESOLVED

That the report be noted.