Lancashire's restorative justice scheme criticised
Jun 14, 2010
from Sam Chadderton's article in the Lancaster and Morecambe Citizen:
The use of restorative justice is ‘inconsistent’ across Lancashire police, according to a report.
The tactic often involves offenders coming face to face with their victims and apologising or making amends either instead of, or as well as, a more formal punishment.
Yet a critical study into how different divisions within Lancashire police use the interventions shows a ‘lack of clarity’, a ‘lack of confidence’ and a ‘lack of faith’ amongst some officers.
It stated there was a ‘cultural and ideological resistance’ to the option.
According to the report, which looked at figures for restorative justice (RJ) between April 2009 and March 2010, its use has shot up in East Lancashire.
In Eastern division covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, 800 ‘harmers’ have been dealt with using an RJ - with a 328 per cent increase from quarter one to quarter four.
Similarly in Pennine for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, there have been 877 RJs used, with a 232 per cent increase from first to last quarter.
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