Restorative Justice

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 went on to re-offend.

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.

Aspects of the initiative include 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 services, 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 95.6% success rate.