Criminals brought together with their victims

Neighbourhood officers in North Yorkshire have seen youth reoffending rates drop by more than half since they introduced "restorative justice" projects to the county.

And Humberside Police has reported a decline in anti-social behaviour by youths after it used the approach in an area of Hull with more than a dozen schools.

Restorative justice brings minor offenders and their victims together by helping them respond to particular crimes.

This could involve the victim demanding a personal apology from the offender or the offender carrying out some remedial work in the community such as removing graffiti or repairing damaged property.

Officers say the schemes have proved so popular that they are being rolled out to other areas blighted by youth crime.

Over six-months last year, North Yorkshire Police used restorative justice to resolve 86 recorded crimes committed by 10- to 17-year-olds in Scarborough, Ryedale and Whitby.

Police put 48 boys and 38 girls through the programme after they were responsible for offences including thefts, assaults and criminal damage.

Only six of them – 6.2 per cent - reoffended within six months. This is less than half the 14 per cent rate recorded for first-time offenders who were not punished through restorative justice.

In one case, a 13-year-old girl who stole an 88p chocolate bar from a Scarborough shop was made to apologise to the owner, repay the cost of the bar and donate half her pocket money for six weeks to a charity of the owner's choice.

Inspector Lee Edwards, of Humberside Police, said similar tactics in the Riverside area of Hull had been very successful.

"What we found in the past is that sometimes incidents were being reported and recorded as crimes but they were actually acts of low-level offending, such as pupils not getting on in the playground; the sorts of acts which, in my day, would never have come anywhere near the criminal justice system.

"What we wanted to do is make an impact on those issues and resolve them in ways that would not unnecessarily criminalise people who did not deserve to be criminalised."

Insp Edwards said restorative justice had become "well embedded" in schools in the area, with police and council officers bringing together offenders and their victims face to face.

"Sometimes traditional forms of criminal justice can isolate an offender from considering the repercussions of what they do, but that is not an option for restorative justice.

"It will only work for people who want to engage with it but, for those who do, it brings together the person who committed the offence and those affected by their actions, who get an opportunity to explain the impact the offences have had on their lives.

"Sometimes it is quite profound; there is a tendency for people to look at this approach and decide it is a bit woolly and a bit liberal, but it is uncomfortable for people who have done wrong to be confronted with the consequences of their actions."

People in Yorkshire may soon get the chance to vote on community service punishments for young offenders after the Government introduced Youth Rehabilitation Orders last month.

They have replaced 11 former punishment options, including curfew orders and drug treatment and testing orders, and are designed to give magistrates and judges more choice in handing down the most appropriate sentence for each young offender.

A Government website that lets internet users suggest sanctions for troublemakers opened in the North West last November and may become national this year.

FIRST-TIME OFFENDERS 2008-09

Leeds 1,186

Sheffield 860

North Yorkshire 785

Bradford 720

Kirklees 584

Doncaster 541

Wakefield 532

Hull 514

East Riding 492

Barnsley 471

Rotherham 394

York 292

North East Lincolnshire 266

Calderdale 262

North Lincolnshire 248