Restorative Cautioning/Diversion by Police

Formal warnings to offenders with restorative conditions imposed

Pioneer justice scheme is working in Norfolk

From the article by Peter Walsh: Norfolk Constabulary is committed to becoming part of the first truly restorative county in the country by 2015 and has been singled out as a force which actively promotes restorative justice by bringing victims and offenders together to discuss an outcome without it having to go through the court system. More than 17,000 people have been through the restorative justice process since November 2007 with a total of 4,611 interventions.

Restorative approaches can make a difference in the relationship between local government bodies and the communities they serve

from the article by Carey Cake and Kirsten Cooper in British Politics and Policy and LSE: ....Since November 2007 over 9,000 people have been through the RJ process. Of those: 89% of participants were satisfied with the outcome 87% of participants feel RJ is effective in dealing with crime and ASB 93% of participants would recommend RJ 93% of participants are satisfied with their treatment 83% of participants are confident in the police and partners ability to deal with crime and ASB having been exposed to RJ

Exercising Discretion: The Gateway to Justice

A study by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate on cautions, penalty notices for disorder and restorative justice In 2009, 38 per cent of the 1.29 million offences ‘solved’ by police were dealt with outside of the court system. We found that the use of out-of-court disposals has evolved in a piecemeal and largely uncontrolled way. An earlier public survey conducted on behalf of HMIC confirmed general public support for giving first-time offenders a second chance – which out-of-court options certainly offer; but this public support ebbs away when they are used for persistent offenders. Our work also suggested that victim satisfaction is high when offenders take part in RJ approaches. RJ, used appropriately, may also reduce re-offending.

Restorative justice vs perfomance targets....

from UKPOLICEONLINE Discussion Forum: Hello all, My force are introducing restorative justice as an alternative to court, and this will primarily be aimed at young offenders. Restorative justice has received a mixed reception and was hoping forum members could share their thoughts and experiences from their own forces. I think its a good idea, and a move away from chasing performance targets has got to be a good think, or are performance targets still applied?? any thoughts gratefully received. Read the interesting responses....

Lancashire's restorative justice scheme criticised

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.

Highbridge park shooting resolved with 'restorative justice'

from Burnham-On-Sea.com: The teenager accused of shooting a boy in the face with a BB gun in a Highbridge park last weekend has been dealt with by means of restorative justice, police said on Thursday (May 27th). The youngster was called into Burnham police station where he met his 10 year-old victim to discuss Saturday's incident in Apex Park near Mallard Place, which was exclusively first reported on Burnham-On-Sea.com here.

North Wales Police chief to step up restorative justice

from BBC News: The new chief constable of North Wales Police is stepping up a system of restorative justice where offenders apologise to their victims. Mark Polin says he believes the strategy can play an important role in crime reduction. It is also seen as a way for first-time offenders to alter their behaviour without receiving a criminal record.

North Wales Police chief to step up restorative justice

from BBC News: The new chief constable of North Wales Police is stepping up a system of restorative justice where offenders apologise to their victims. Mark Polin says he believes the strategy can play an important role in crime reduction. It is also seen as a way for first-time offenders to alter their behaviour without receiving a criminal record.

West Yorkshire Police try an unusual Christmas card

from the press release: A ten year old girl's letter is the focal point of this year's Bradford District Christmas burglary campaign. The letter was written to the man who burgled her home and left her scared to return or go out in the area. Amy Winteridge wrote down her feelings so that they could be read out at a meeting her Mum had with the man who had burgled them as part of West Yorkshire Probation Service's restorative justice process. On reading the letter the man was visibly moved by what Amy had to say. The letter is now the centre of a special Christmas card which will be sent out to known burglars across the Bradford District. It's hoped that it will make some of them think about their actions and how they affect children in the homes they target. The card will be hand delivered to a lot of the criminals and former criminals by Officers from Neighbourhood Policing Teams to give that extra personal reminder that the Police will be watching them in the run up to Christmas.

Common sense justice is a £1M hit in Derbyshire, UK

from the article on derbyshire.co.uk: Police have hailed as a huge success a new "common sense" approach to minor offences which has saved £1m and met with the approval of 95% of victims. Restorative justice gives the victim a say in how an offender is dealt with. Young vandals who cause damage can be forced to repair it and apologise to the property owner, and minor assaults can be dealt with by attackers agreeing to pay compensation to their victims. In each case, the situation is resolved without court action, saving thousands of hours of police time and preventing youngsters from getting criminal records. Police say that since the scheme was introduced in Derbyshire in April, more than 1,600 crimes have been dealt with using the new powers....

Police give backing to new apology system

From the article by Sarah Bould in Easwood and Kimberly Advertiser: Many more minor crimes in Nottinghamshire are being dealt with by the criminals saying 'sorry', to their victims. Police hope the move will free up officers so they have more time to patrol the streets. The 'restorative justice' initiative aims to deal swiftly with minor crimes, without the case going to court and has seen criminals being made to apologise or compensate their victims.

Police Chief backs justice reform

The chief constable of Scotland's second largest police force has backed plans to scrap short prison sentences in favour of community punishments.

Conservative think tank in Britain calls for restorative justice act

From Restorative Justice Consortium E-Newsletter for April 2009: A leading Conservative think-tank, set up by former Party leader Ian Duncan-Smith, has called for an expansion of Restorative Justice conferencing, training of police in restorative disposals, a national Restorative Justice agency and a Restorative Justice Act.

Daly, Kathleen. Diversionary Conferences in Australia: A Reply to the Optimists and the Skeptics

Conferencing is probably a good idea. However, it is not as trouble-free as optimists argue nor as dreadful as skeptics fear. On items I can compare, my findings from a small set of cases in two jurisdictions in Australia are strikingly similar to Maxwell and Morris' (1993) major study of conferencing in New Zealand. (author's abstract)

Wachtel, Joshua. Restorative Community Policing in the UK: Dorset, Cheshire and Norfolk Constables Point the Way.

Police in roughly 50 percent of counties in England and Wales employ some form of restorative justice (RJ). Constables in districts including Dorset (southwest), Cheshire and Lancashire (northwest), Hull (northeast) and Norfolk (east) are actively making restorative practices (RP) their first line of defense — at officers’ discretion — for dealing with neighborhood disputes, first-time and low-level youth offenders, youth crime in schools, and some adult cases. (excerpt)

Cunningham, Teresa. Pre-court diversion in the Northern Territory: impact on juvenile reoffending.

A juvenile pre-court diversion scheme was introduced in the Northern Territory in 2000. Administered by police, it uses warnings and conferences to divert selected juveniles from the court process. This paper reports on an analysis of Northern Territory police records on 3,597 apprehended juveniles over a 5 year period. Findings showed that the great majority of juveniles (76%) did not reoffend within the first year after their initial diversion or court appearance. However, there were significant differences between juveniles who attended court and those who were diverted, both in terms of risk of reoffending and time to reoffending. Those who were diverted reoffended less than those who attended court and those who went to court reoffended more quickly. Property offenders who attended court were 30 percent more at risk of reoffending than violent offenders. Further work is required to see if the different effects for court versus diversion remain if prior offending history is taken into account. The significant differences in offending related to age, gender, Indigenous status and location confirm the need for specific responses to particular groups of juveniles. (author's abstract)

Smith, Roger and Hinks, Nigel. "Diversion in Practice: Northants Juvenile Liaison Bureaux"

Northamptonshire’s progressive work in juvenile justice has attracted national attention, and some misunderstanding. The authors describe their bureau approach to cautioning, seeking to avoid precipitous court appearances without falling into the traps of injustice, net-widening, excessive executive power or collusion with the police.

Kakar, Suman and Potter, Roberto Hugh. "Diversion Decision-Making Process From the Juvenile Court Practitioners' Perspective: Results of a Survey"

This research examined the reported effect of legal and nonlegal factors on those who actually make decisions about juvenile diversion. Previous researchers have analyzed the outcomes of recorded decisions made in the official justice process,with special attention paid to the effects of legal and extralegal variables on juvenile diversion decisions. However,little attention has been given to howthe key players explain the influence of these factors on decision-making processes in the juvenile justice system. These actors—court-designated workers,county-appointed attorneys,and police administrators—significantly affect the outcomes of the diversion decision. This research attempts to fill in gaps left by earlier research between howthe process is supposed towork in legislation and previously observed differences with regard to the effect of legal and extralegal factors on recorded outcomes. It is suggested that process-related factors should be examined to strengthen the understanding of how diversion decision making is achieved. These results are particularly significant in a time of increasing calls for get-tough and zero-tolerance policies with regard to even minor juvenile infractions.

Quinn, Katie and Jackson, John. Police Interviews with Young Suspects in Northern Ireland.

The increasing use of diversion and the growing interest in restorative justice as a means of dealing with youth offending has tended to deflect attention away from the police interview which many young persons must endure before diversionary practices take effect.1 Although there are clearly benefits to diversion, the effect of these practices is that the police interview becomes the only forum for examining the evidence against young suspects who go on to admit their guilt in return for diversionary disposal (Pratt 1986; Evans 1993). Yet, there is a large literature which illustrates that the police interview is not a disinterested search for the truth, in which the police exercise their inquisitorial powers to gather information from the suspect with information flowing in a unidirectional manner from suspect to officer (see, e.g. McConville et al. 1991: 78–79 and Baldwin 1993). Instead, the facts generated during interrogation are the product of a complex process of interaction between the suspect and the officer in which proof is constructed out of the suspect’s own words. (excerpt)

Wilcox, Aidan and Young, Richard. How Green was Thames Valley?: Policing the Image of Restorative Justice Cautions.

In 1994, Thames Valley Police (in the UK) began experimenting with restorative justice cautioning, in the Milton Keynes area. Other pilot programmes (most notably in Aylesbury) soon followed. The initiative was enthusiastically promoted by the then Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Sir Charles Pollard. One of his central claims was that re-offending rates had declined from 30% to 4% in Aylesbury as a result of restorative cautioning. This remarkable claim was instrumental in persuading key individuals, both within and outside Thames Valley Police, that greater use should be made of restorative methods within criminal justice. This paper subjects that claim to empirical scrutiny (and finds it baseless) as well as exploring what this episode reveals about the nature of relations between the police and the media. (author's abstract).