This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Action to help victims of youth crime
14/03/2003
New measures to make young offenders face up to their crimes and give victims a greater stake in the youth justice process were announced today.
Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace announced a total of £500,000 to establish a Scottish-wide system of restorative police cautions, including training programmes for Scottish police forces.
And Minister for Young People Cathy Jamieson announced a new national information and support service to keep victims informed of how young offenders are dealt with.
Speaking in Dumfries, Mr Wallace said:
"A small proportion of young people are responsible for committing crimes and causing misery in some communities. Tackling youth crime - by reducing offending rates and making people feel safer - is one of our biggest priorities.
"Restorative justice plays an important part in contributing to safer, more confident communities first and foremost, by meeting the needs of victims, but also by providing a rapid and effective way of dealing with young offenders and bringing home the consequences of their actions. It balances the concerns of the victim and the community with the need to reintegrate the offender into society.
"In order to identify the best system of restorative cautioning, one that can be applied throughout Scotland, I am pleased to announce that a Steering Group has been established. It is important that we identify a common approach that provides the most effective way of using restorative cautions to support police throughout Scotland in tackling youth crime."
Speaking at the INCLUDEM project in South Lanarkshire, Ms Jamieson said:
"It is vital that victims and communities have faith in our youth justice system. We have made changes to the law to allow victims to find out what action has been taken to tackle the offending behaviour of the young person who has committed a crime against them.
"The new national information and support service will help keep victims of youth crime informed. Victim Support Scotland will contact the victim following the police referral and support them through the process. We are also bringing in a new scheme for the speedy return of victims' property to try and minimise disruption.
"Restorative justice projects also allow victims to be involved in the youth justice process. Councils were allocated £2 million last year and this has greatly increased the availability of places in these projects. Three thousand places for young offenders are now available across Scotland. Young offenders who have participated in these schemes are less likely to re-offend and victims who take part feel the crime is taken seriously and properly dealt with."
Ms Jamieson concluded:
"The new measures announced today will help ensure that victims can be involved in the youth justice service where appropriate and, most importantly, that young offenders are made to face up to the consequences of their action. This is another step in our plan to make communities safer places to live."
Restorative justice encourages offenders to take responsibility for their actions, to acknowledge the harm they have caused and to be involved in repairing some of that harm. Properly targeted restorative cautions are a highly effective was of addressing re-offending.
Mr Wallace was visiting Dumfries and Galloway today, where he announced the establishment of a Steering Group. The Group, comprising officials from the Scottish Executive, Crown Office, Scottish Children's Report Administration, ACPOS, Directors of Social Work and the voluntary sector, will identify best practice for restorative cautioning and the preparation of guidance. The guidance will be published later in the year.
The Executive has allocated £250,000 (from Justice budget, 2002-03) for exploratory work on restorative cautions, including training where the police will be trained in making young offenders acknowledge the harm they have caused and to be closely involved in repairing some of that harm. A further £250,000 (from Justice budget, 2003-04) will be made available to implement a national system of restorative justice cautions for Scotland.
The new national information and support service to keep victims informed of how young offenders are dealt with will be piloted for 12 months in Falkirk, Stirling and Clackmannanshire from September. We will take on board any lessons learned before rolling out the system nationally. Almost £100,000 have been allocated (from the Youth Crime Prevention Fund 2002-03) for initial start-up costs. We will fully fund the national roll out.
The £2 million for local authorities issued last year aimed to encourage the expansion of young offender mediation and reparation schemes and other restorative justice approaches across Scotland. Details of how the money has been used can be obtained by calling Brian Robinson on 0131 244 2968.