UK
New police initiative sees return of the village bobby
Instead of hauling every unruly youth into the criminal justice system, police in Norfolk have brought in a three-tiered system to try to resolve community issues as quickly as possible. The new Community Justice Panel system hopes to tackle youth offending while allowing the courts to focus on more serious offenders and crimes. For minor problems like street arguments, police will deal with the situation there and then for the first tier of the system, named Restorative Justice on the Street.
Peter Merry, head of criminal justice at Norfolk police, said: "It's for a situation, say, where a police officer comes across two kids shouting at each other - and then finds out the problems and what the issues are, rather than just saying to them to leave the area. It is still a formal process with paperwork - but you can deal with it there and then."
The second tier is called Conferencing, where people in the community, and the offenders, get together and discuss the issue for longer-term problems, like repeated skateboarding in pedestrian areas and other forms of anti-social behaviour. Schools, community leaders, parents, shopkeepers, councillors and other people in the community will gather to discuss the issue. Mr Merry added: "This level is for issues that are more complex, anti-social behaviour, skateboarding in shopping centres, but still low-level things."
And the third tier, Voluntary Community Restorative Panels, is similar to Conferencing, whereby panels meet to discuss issues. They will initially be based in seven geographical locations in the county covering every neighbourhood and getting involved in issues that arise. The aim is eventually for 52 to cover the Safer Neighbourhood Team areas. Mr Merry said: "We were being innovative - this is something that's a sea change and proactive."
Aimed at trying to prevent youngsters entering the criminal justice system, it has been found, through research by the Institute for Public Policy Research, to be a more effective approach to "non-severe crimes".
Julian Foster, chairman of the Central Norwich Citizens Forum, said the new approach was a great idea because it involved listening to youngsters who often did not realise they were causing problems. He said: "I'm delighted the police are using this approach. Young people need to have a much more holistic approach - sending them to prison only teaches them how to be better criminals. People fear restorative justice will lead to retaliation but the evidence shows this is not the case. It has a huge effect on young people who didn't even realise some of their behaviour was causing a problem, doing things like hanging around in gangs."
Nationally, youth crime rose by 6pc in 2007-08, rather than reduce by 10pc - which was the government's target. For Norfolk, there has been a 58pc increase in cautions and convictions of 10 to 18-year-olds since 2002, but only a 14pc increase for adult offenders.
But critics have argued the new system is merely a way of reducing crime figures rather than bringing offenders to justice. Antony Little, a leader of the Conservative group on Norwich City Council and a councillor for Bowthorpe, said: "If this is for dealing with mild anti-social behaviour, then it should be supported, but if you are dealing with people who are consistently committing crimes and they laugh at this kind of thing, it's not going to work. If you are a resident who is plagued by anti-social behaviour, you are unlikely to be placated by the idea that someone may say sorry. This shouldn't be a replacement for the criminal justice system."
Dr Ian Gibson, Norwich North MP, said he backed the plans which would bring back old-fashioned policing to the streets. He said: "We want to build a society where people take responsibility again - a lot of people will be cynical about this and say it's about reducing crime figures, but if it helps then surely that's a good thing. It's about trying to change behaviour."
Lucy Bolton
24 July 2008