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Pilot schemes were announced today where victims, parents and young offenders themselves can all play a part in correcting their offending behaviour.
From June 2000 young offenders convicted of their first offence in Magistrates and youth courts in the pilot areas will be sentenced to a referral order.
The orders, introduced under the Youth Justice & Criminal Evidence Act 1999, will last for between three and twelve months and will be automatic unless the crime is serious enough to warrant custody.
Taking youth intervention beyond the courtroom, panels of expert youth workers and representatives of the local community will discuss offenders'' behaviour with them and agree a plan of corrective reparation with parents, victims and the offenders themselves.
Home Office Minister Charles Clarke confirmed that the pilot schemes would take place in Blackburn and Darwen, Cardiff, London (Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and the City of Westminster), Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Swindon & Wiltshire.
He said:
"The referral order will tackle young offending in line with the three principles of restorative justice - making restoration to the victim; taking responsibility for criminal acts; and reintegrating the offender back into the community.
"By helping young offenders understand the distressing consequences of their actions, we aim to ensure they take responsibility for them.
"And by developing a programme of meaningful activity, we aim to make their first court appearance also their last.
He also welcomed the innovative involvement of victims in the referral order process:
"Crucially, victims will be invited to participate in the process, explaining how the offending behaviour has affected them and helping to determine an appropriate from of reparation."
Concluding, he reassured victims and warned offenders that the referral orders would be no ''soft option'':
"If the order is successfully completed, the conviction will be considered spent. But if the young offender fails to comply, they will be sent straight back to court for further sentencing."
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. Young offenders convicted in court for the first time and pleading guilty will be automatically referred to the new panels unless the crime is serious enough to warrant custody or where an absolute discharge is considered appropriate. The orders will last for between three and twelve months depending on the seriousness of the offence.
2. The panel will facilitate a full examination of the reasons for the offending behaviour with the young offender, their parents and other adults - such as teachers - who may be able to influence future behaviour. The panel will then help to devise a programme of activity aimed at tackling the behaviour and preventing re-offending.
3. The programme will always include an element of reparation as well as activities to tackle the causes of offending, such as family counselling, drug rehabilitation, anger management, or dealing with truancy.
4. The panel will monitor young offenders'' compliance with their programmes. If, at the end of the referral order period, the programme has been completed successfully, the conviction will be considered spent. However, if the young offender is unwilling to agree a programme of activity, or fails to comply with it, he or she will be sent back to court for a new sentence to be given.
5. The referral orders will be piloted in Blackburn and Darwen, Cardiff, London (Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster), Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Swindon & Wiltshire. The recruitment and training of panel members will begin in Spring 2000, with referral orders available to the courts from June 2000. The pilots will be independently evaluated for 18 months to develop best practice. The referral orders are expected to be made available to all courts in England and Wales during the course of 2002/2003.
6. Full details of the referral order pilot sites follow:
Cardiff: Cardiff has a relatively high throughput of young offenders (1,200 arrests per year), it offers a compact urban site in which to pilot the referral order. The Cardiff Youth Offending Team (YOT) has been awarded Pathway status by the Youth Justice Board and will be ready to operate the new youth justice measures introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act ahead of national implementation. The YOT is also in receipt of a substantial development fund award from the Youth Justice Board to support the provision of a wide range of youth justice services in the city, including a victim-offender mediation project.
Suffolk: Suffolk offers the opportunity to pilot referral orders in a large predominantly rural county. Its Youth Offending Team (YOT) operates across three regional centres and has received a substantial award from the Youth Justice Board development fund. The YOT has already been involved in a number of innovative projects including the development of a Youth Drugs and Alcohol Service, and is working with its voluntary partners to provide victim-offender mediation, reparation and family group conferencing projects. Existing mediation projects in the county are currently being evaluated as part of the Home Office Crime Reduction study.
Oxfordshire: With a total population of 610,000, Oxfordshire offers a mixed urban and rural area in which to pilot the referral order. The county''s YOT has been awarded Pathway status from the Youth Justice Board and will be ready to operate a range of new youth justice measures from early next year. The YOT operates from three regional centres and has successfully attracted substantial Youth Justice Board funding for a comprehensive range of interventions which target current young offenders and children at risk of offending. Thames Valley Police, one of the statutory YOT partners, has been at the forefront of developing and promoting restorative justice policing practices.
London Boroughs of Hammersmith & Fulham, Kensington & Chelsea and the City of Westminster: This team of West London Boroughs has been successfully piloting the new youth justice measures introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act since September 1998. As a result the three youth offending teams have in place a wide range of youth justice services and a number of targeted interventions aimed at preventing offending which would be available for use with a referral order. Through the experience of the current pilots, the YOTs have developed a strong working relationship with the West London Youth Court, where referral orders will be made from next June.
Swindon and Wiltshire: This is a joint project between urban Swindon and rural Wiltshire, sharing a total population of 592,000. Both youth offending teams are already fully operational and are receiving substantial Youth Justice Board development fund awards to support a range of new youth justice services, including a family group conferencing scheme. Both teams are currently developing a range of new interventions to be used in the referral order, including victim-offender mediation and community reparation.
Nottinghamshire: Nottinghamshire - including the City of Nottingham - has a mixed urban and rural population of 1.1 million. The pilot will be a joint endeavour between the county and city youth offending teams. The Nottingham YOT is one of the largest teams in the country. Both teams are benefiting from extensive Youth Justice Board development funding, including grants to establish a reparation scheme and a community restorative justice project. Nottinghamshire Police, one of the statutory partners, is already in the process of training officers in restorative justice principles and techniques.
Blackburn with Darwen: This largely urban area with a total population of 137,000 offers a highly experienced team to pilot the referral order. Since September 1998 the Blackburn with Darwen youth offending team has been successfully piloting a number of the new youth justice measures introduced in the Crime and Disorder Act. In addition it has also been a pilot site for the ''Narey'' measures to speed up the criminal justice system and the new statutory time limits in the youth court. The youth offending team receives Youth Justice Board development funding to support a range of new youth justice services, and has recently appointed a reparation/mediation co- ordinator to the team.
