News

Read the latest news about the Safer Hastings Partnership, our recent achievements and new initiatives here…

Troublesome youth & parenting issues

PRISON visits for teenagers who have committed a crime for the first time are part of the Hastings Restorative Justice scheme. The initiative, funded by the Safer Hastings Partnership, aims to help young people who have offended for the first time to avoid entering into a cycle of offences.

One aspect of Restorative Justice is to take young people who are first-time offenders or at risk of offending to a local prison, in order to give them a taste of where crime leads and the reality of prison.

In Crawley, where the scheme has been piloted since 2003, the young people who have visited prisons have been able to spend short periods of time in solitary confinement and speak to inmates about prison life.

Prior to this initiative launching in Crawley, figures showed that 40 per cent of young offenders who went through the traditional system re-offended. However, of the first 400 young offenders to go through the Restorative Justice process in Crawley, a staggering 96 per cent stayed out of trouble and did not re-offend.

Hastings Police Station now has its own Restorative Justice Coordinator who runs a crime diversion scheme across the town. The coordinator’s role is to bring together different agencies, including the offenders and their victims, to look at why these young people commit crimes, and how they can avoid re-offending.

The initiative includes young offenders meeting with their victims to hear about the effects of their criminal acts, as well as case conferences and links to a wide range of support workers and ervices, such as careers advice, sports groups, anti-bullying advice and health information.

Of 138 young people who had participated in the Hastings scheme by November 2006, 132 have stayed out of trouble since completing it, which is a 95 per cent success rate.

Young offenders ‘pay back’ community

YOUTH Offending Teams (YOT) were established in 2000 across England and Wales following the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Their aim is to prevent offending by children and young people aged 10-17.

Each YOT comprises staff from the Police, the Probation Service, children’s services (including education), and the health service. In addition, the East Sussex YOT comprises a number of staff employed by the voluntary sector.

East Sussex YOT has developed several projects in the Hastings area that give young offenders the opportunity to pay something back to the local community and, through this, to stop offending.

Reparation is unpaid voluntary work carried out by the young person, either directly to the victim or to the community at large, to make amends for their offence.

The type of work carried out is commensurate with the offence and is designed to help the young person understand and take responsibility for their offending behaviour. Young people are accompanied and supervised by a YOT worker at all times when carrying out this work.

Among local ‘community payback’ projects, young offenders have painted and renovated school playgrounds at St Leonards and Glyne Gap primary schools and carried out general garden maintenance at St Matthew’s Gardens, including the construction of a compost box.

Young people have also made benches, rabbit pens and a pergola that were then donated to local schools and charities. These items were constructed with materials donated by local companies, such as Stamco, using a workshop at the Narconon Drug Rehabilitation Unit in St Leonards.

By carrying out such work, young people not only pay something back to their community, but are also taught a new skill. They can find satisfaction in making something from materials that would otherwise be thrown away, and that benefits their local community.

John Hawkins, head of Youth Offending Services for East Sussex, said, “Reparation is a very effective way of getting young people to take responsibility for their offending and, at the same time, to do some good for their community. The feedback we get from local projects and groups is extremely positive.”

The Hastings Story So Far

THE TERM anti-social behaviour was introduced with the Crime & Disorder Act 1998, which also gave the police and local authorities power to apply for a new order, the Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO), aimed at restricting a person’s behaviour and opportunity to commit crime and disorder.

Nationally, the first ASBOs were made in the year 2000, with the first two ASBOs in Hastings being imposed two years later. Both of these local ASBOs related to individuals who were a persistent nuisance in their immediate neighbourhoods, causing harassment to their neighbours through excessive noise, shouting abuse in the street and being intimidating when confronted. The first Order ran for two years; the second for five, meaning it is still current.

The next year, the Safer Hastings Partnership appointed an ASBO Coordinator, which was the first step in building its ASB Unit. Working with partners, five ASBOs were secured in 2003. Among these five, two local car thieves were made the subject of ASBOs, as was a persistent shoplifter.

As the ASB Unit gathered strength and partners continued to work together to tackle anti-social behaviour, an increasing number of ASBOs were granted. Of the 13 secured in Hastings in 2004, six young people were given two-year ASBOs after a reign of terror in the Halton area. Prior to these ASBOs, residents were sworn at and abused, damage was caused to property and eggs were thrown at houses and cars. In the same year, a street drinker became the first person in Hastings to receive an ASBO preventing him from consuming alcohol in a public place and from being drunk within a specifically designated area.

Towards the end of the year, Hastings was officially recognised by the Home Office as a Together Action Area, bringing additional resources of £50,000 to the town and enabling us to expand our focus on environmental issues as well as nuisance neighbours and troublesome youth.

Another 12 ASBOs were successfully applied for in 2005. Those subject to these included a number of street drinkers and youths, as well as a persistent car thief, a tenant who was causing severe harassment to other tenants in his block of flats and a persistent train-fare dodger.

In 2006, a further 10 ASBOs were granted to restrict the behaviour of four more street drinkers, two aggressive street beggars, two prolific young offenders and two extremely active shoplifters.

2002 = 2 ASBOs
2003 = 5 ASBOs
2004 = 13 ASBOs
2005 = 12 ASBOs
2006 = 10 ASBOs

Some question whether or not ASBOs actually work. In Hastings, we have found them effective, particularly against street drinkers. The success here reflects the national picture, with 60 per cent of ASBOs not being breached, meaning the behaviour has stopped and the ASBO has worked.

However, some perpetrators do continue to cause problems and breach their ASBOs. The breach of an ASBO can lead to arrest, which, in turn, can lead to imprisonment for a term of up to five years.

But tackling anti-social behaviour is not only about ASBOs. The Safer Hastings Partnership has funded a range of initiatives by its various partners, such as youth diversion schemes including East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service’s LIFE Project and Sussex Police’s Restorative Justice Project, as well as contributing to several others.

In addition, Hastings Borough Council has removed more than 6,000 abandoned and/or untaxed vehicle from our streets over the last four years.