Agenda item

Lynn Hawes - Youth Offending Service Manager, Sally Ellis - Restorative Justice Co-ordinator, and Tom Murphy - Assistant Director of Early Intervention Prevention & SEND, introduced a report on Restorative Justice within the Youth Offending Service (YOS).

Restorative Justice was an initiative which aimed to bring together the victims of an offence, together with those responsible for the offence, to explore how the harm caused might be repaired. This included the victims meeting or communicating with the young person who committed the crime, to explain the impact of the crime and allow the young person to have the opportunity to take responsibility and make amends for their actions.

The Committee was shown a video interview of an adult couple who had been a victim of an offence, (in this instance, an assault by a group of teenage girls), and who had subsequently taken part in the process. The interview set out how the victims had felt following the incident, their initial apprehension at meeting the perpetrator of the assault, and their feelings following the meeting. The victims described feeling overwhelmingly positive about the experience, and the video concluded with their endorsement of the initiative.

The initiative was launched at Hillingdon Council approximately 3 years ago. All known victims were approached but not all wished to engage in the process, sometimes for practical reasons, for example where the victim lived a considerable distance away. Since April 2015, the YOS had supported approximately 25 direct conferences between victims and perpetrators. Since June 2018, a further 20 victims had been identified through links with the Police, from which 1 face to face direct conference had been held. It was forecast that 2 additional conferences would be held in the near future.

Challenges to be overcome included changes to obtaining personal contact information following the launch of GDPR. Discussions on how to address this were ongoing between the Council and the Police.

Members sought additional information, and asked a number of questions including:

How was the YOS addressing young people who were the victims of a crime?

All victims, regardless of age, were offered the opportunity to engage with the initiative. Similar to adults, some young people were willing to engage, whilst some were not. In addition, parents of the young people were often unwilling to allow their child to take part, due to concerns over the potential for victimisation or recrimination.

What training did staff undergo to enable them to carry out direct conferences successfully?

Staff were required to attend a 3 day training course delivered by the Restorative Justice Council. Currently, Hillingdon had four staff trained to moderate direct conferences. Feedback from all parties following the conferences was used to determine areas for improvement.

How was mental health considered within the process?

Hillingdon’s team included a part time mental health worker, who was of great benefit in all its work, particularly when facilitating referrals to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS). Mental health issues for young people being regularly identified were those of emotional wellbeing and trauma issues, rather than clinical issues such as depression or psychosis. Partnerships with health teams were in place to facilitate services such as counselling or speech and language therapy, where required.

It was confirmed that Hillingdon was operating in line with the statutory victim requirements, and that all victims had the opportunity to explore the options for restitution open to them.

Members requested that any future reports on the topic include data set by year.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.