Reparation?
What is Reparation?
Reparations designed to help the young person to put right the harm their offence has caused, either to the victim or to the community.
There are many ways they can do this, including:
- Making an apology to the victim of crime, either by letter, by video or in person
- Doing something for the victim, for example, repairing any damage that has been done
- Doing some unpaid work to help or benefit the community
Reparations defined as a set numbers of hours which are carried out voluntarily by the young person.
Reparation can either be Direct (to the victim) or Indirect (to the community).
Reparation can be classified into 5 main groups:
- Sport: e.g. helping to coach different sports to children
- Community work: e.g. helping out at a youth club, playclub, community centre
- Outdoor Work: e.g. carrying out gardening for a local environmental group
- Art/Music Related Work: e.g. designing a poster to deter other young people from offending
- Trade: e.g. carrying out work in the trade industry such as building and maintenance, painting and decorating, carpentry.
How is it decided what Reparation the young person does?
Reparation should be a positive experience for all involved. Therefore, negative, purely punitive activities should be avoided.
Reparation should be relevant to the young person’s offence to help them to understand how they are repairing the harm they have caused.
The victim’s views on the activities the young person can do for Reparation must be taken into account and acted on where appropriate.
Reparation should be based on the young person’s strengths or interests (including employment aspiration).
What are the aims of Reparation?
- To involve and empower the victim, helping them practically and emotionally
- To offer the young person the opportunity to put rights the damage
- To help the young person develop an awareness of the impact of their actions
- To encourage understanding and breaking down of stereotypes
- To help both parties bring the incident to a close, so that they can get on with their lives
- To bring healing and forgiveness to relationships hurt by crime
- To encourage the young person to move on and avoid re-offending
- To help the young person integrate back into their local communities
Who supervises the Reparation Placement?
All activities are supervised either by a member of staff at your placement or a member of staff from the Youth Offending Service. All the supervisors are Police checked and are responsible adults.
How long will it last?
If the young person is on a referral order then their reparation will last between 6-30 hours. This must be completed during the length of the young person’s order
If they have a reparation order from court, then the number of hours will be between 6 -24 hours
For any other orders, their case manager will decide with them.
What if they are ill and can’t make the session?
The case Manager at the youth offending service should be informed straight away, before the time of the appointment. The case manager will in turn call you to inform you and advise you of alternative arrangements.
What do I have to do?
You should:
If you are interested in helping prevent young people from re-offending, then you should contact the reparation team
- The reparation team will then arrange a meeting with you to assess your potential placement and discuss any questions you may have
- A form will need to be completed for you to be added to the Youth Offending Service Reparation list
- A risk assessment will be completed
How will I know that a young person is interested in working at my venue?
A member of the Reparation Team will contact you informing you that a young person is interested in working at your venue
The worker will only disclose relevant information i.e. name, age, level of risk to your users
The worker will arrange a meeting between the worker, the young person their parents/carer and yourself. At this meeting you will be completed and signed, confirming details of times, dates and work that needs completing. A copy wil be given to all parties involved. The nature of the offence will not be disclosed due to confidentiality Regulations
What will I have to do whilst the placement in progress?
We ask the Health and Safety regulations are explained to the young person prior to them starting work
- Treat the young person the same way you would any other member of staff
- Provide any equipment that is required i.e. goggles, hard hats
- Build a rapport with the supervisor and the young person
- Advise the case manager of any concerns, or if the young person fails to attend
For further enquiries Please ask for the Reparation Team
Leicester City Youth Offending Services
Eagle House 11 Friar Lane, Leicester LE1 5RB
Tel: 0116 299 5830
Youth Offender Panels
From April 2002, England and Wales will pioneer an entirely new way of dealing with young offenders aged between 10 and 17 years old.
All of the local criminal justice agencies have combined their efforts and resources to bring the scheme to Leicester.
This partnership now needs to involve local people of the community to make it work.
What is a Youth Offender Panel?
Most young offenders who appear in court for the first time and plead guilty will receive a Referral Order, lasting from 3 to 12 months and requiring them to attend a Youth Offender Panel meeting.
What happens at the Panel Meetings?
Each Youth Offender Panel meeting will have two community members and a member of the Youth Offending Team.
The panel will be led by one of the community members, with the Youth Offending Team member providing information and support.
The panel will meet with the young offender, their family and where appropriate, the victim with the aim of reaching an agreement that:
- Considers how and why the offences occurred and what can be done to prevent it happening again
- Ensures young offenders take responsibility for their behaviour.
- Increases the young offender’s understanding of the harm done to the victim and how they can make amends.
- Afterwards, the Youth Offending Team will monitor the young offender to ensure adherence to the agreement. The panel will meet to review progress and can refer the youth offender back to court if the agreement is not being kept.
How is a youth Offender Panel different from a Youth Court?
Although Panel has the backing of the court, it is not a court of law. There are several important differences:
- Panel will be less formal than courts. This will encourage communication between the young offenders, their family and their victims
- Panel members will have a particular understanding of the effects of crime in the community.
- The local nature of panels will bring home the real effects of crime to the young offender by requiring them to consider the effects of their actions on victims and the rest of the community.
Who can be a panel member?
As long a s you are at least 18 years old, you can apply to be a community panel member. No qualification or experience is required and the most important factor will be your personal qualities.
Panels will reflect the communities they serve and we are looking for members who reflect the diversity of the areas they come from, in term of age, gender , ethnic origin and social background.
You should be of good character, although criminal convictions will not necessarily disqualify you as long as they are not serious or recent.
You will need to be prepared to undergo police checks and provide references to show you are suitable to deal with young people.
Commitment
Community Panel members will be expected to serve on at least one panel per month. We expect panel meeting to last between 45-90minutes
You will receive 56 hours training in the first year and regular refresher course and support from the youth offending team after that.
Members will need to commit themselves to serving for at least a year.
If you are interested, please contact
Referral Order Coordinator
Leicester City Youth Offending Team
0116 299 5830
Or visit
Leicester City Youth Offending Team
Eagle House
11 Frair Lane, Leicester
LE1 5RB
Tel: 0116 299 5830
Email: youth.offending.team@leicester.gov.uk
False abuse allegations to be wiped from workers’ records
Teachers and youth workers who have been cleared of alleged abuse against children will be able to wipe the claims from their records, the government has said.
Junior children’s minister Baroness Delyth Morgan last week pledged to change the system as part of an overhaul of the statutory guidance on handling of allegations of abuse against those who work with young people.
Morgan said a review of the guidance had shown it to be largely effective. However, she acknowledged concerns within the sector over the requirements in existing guidance that references on prospective employees should contain details of any allegations of abuse, even those proved untrue.
In a letter accompanying the launch of a consultation on the revised guidance, Morgan said: “I am happy now to confirm that we do intend to amend the guidance to make clear that allegations which have been investigated and demonstrated to be completely untrue do not need to be included in a teacher’s references.
“We are committed to ensuring that the systems for dealing with allegations provide effective protection for children against abuse while also providing a fair, transparent system for teachers and other members of the children’s workforce that minimises the impact of allegations that turn out to be unfounded.”
David Whewell, chair of the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services, welcomed the proposed change. He said: “This is an important change. If someone has been accused of something and that accusation has been found to be untrue, to then tar them with that forever more is very unfair.”
By Ben Willis
Children & Young People Now
15 May 2009
Big idea to ease prison overcrowding is scales back
Jack Straw has abandoned plans to build three giant ”Titan” prisons, each holding 2,500 inmates, after criticism from prison governors and penal reform groups.
The £1.2 billion programme for the biggest jails in Britain was the centrepiece of a huge expansion of prison places to 96,000 by 2014. Mr Straw, the Justice Secretary, will tell MPs next week that instead of the three Titan, the Government plans to build “mini-Titans”, each holding 1500 inmates.
He will announce the sites for two of the new jails next week, providing a future justice secretary with the option of scrapping the remaining three if the prison population stabilities. The mini-Titans are planned for the South East, North West and West Midlands and will be built and run by the private sector.
They form part of the biggest prison building programme in Western Europe. In addition to the five 1,500 – place jails, the Government is planning to build eight smaller prisons to house 5,400 inmates.
The Ministry of Justice said that total prison capacity would till increase as planned. “We have consulted on plans for new prisons and have listened carefully to all views.” a spokesman said.
A Whitehall source said that Mr Straw had never been ideologically wedded to Titans. He had listened to people such as Dame Anne Owners, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, and decided on the grounds of efficiency, effectiveness and security that it was better to build jails with 1,500 places, the source said.
A consultation paper on Titans last June said that each jail would be built on a 50-acre site. The jails would have been up to five storeys but divided into five separate units each holding about 500 inmates. Ministers argued that a Titan site could have held self-contained remand jails, youth jails and prisons for adults, allowing for saving to be made on shared services such as catering, education and administrative functions.
Whitehall sources said that the five new prisons were expected to cost “roughly the same” as the Titans. It was unclear how the economies of scale provided by three Titans could be achieved by building five 1,500 superjails. The Titans, a name Mr. Straw disliked, were part of a programme intended to fill a predicted 13,600 shortfall in prison places by 2014. Twenty of the 135 jails in England and Wales hold more than 1,000, including inmates, followed by Birmingham with 1,400 and Wormwood Scrubs with 1,225.
The prison population yesterday was 82, 773, a rise of 21 on the previous week. If the prison estate, 88 out of 135 prisons are overcrowded and more than a quarter of inmates are in cells holding one more than they were designed for.
Penal reformers welcomed then abandonment of the Titans but said that building mini- Titans was not an answer to overcrowding. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform said that Titan was not an answer to overcrowding. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League of Penal Reform, said that Titan jails were a disastrous idea and were now a “titanic policy failure”.
Ms Crook added: “Building five 1,500 – place prisons, bigger than any other jail in the country, is not the answer to the chronic problem of overcrowding and violence in our jails.”
Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “Warehousing offenders in hulks twice the size of Wembley Stadium was never going to address increased levels of reoffending and so we welcome plans to scrap Titan prisons.
“However, Jack Straw needs to urgently explain how he will address the crisis in the prison population that has resulted in thousands of prisoners being released early. Only by increasing capacity, reducing overcrowding and replacing our old, expensive and ineffective prisons can we reform offenders and cut crime.”
Source: The Times – 25th April 2009