Community Remedy
Supporting Victims; Restorative Justice and Community Remedy
Restorative Justice
Restorative justice (RJ) brings those harmed by crime or conflict, and those responsible for the harm, into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward.
Government research shows that restorative justice helps victims to get answers to their questions, aids recovery and helps them to move on with their lives. For offenders, restorative justice can be very challenging. It has been proven that offenders are less likely to re-offend following a properly facilitated restorative justice process.
Restorative justice is a specialist service which must be delivered by qualified and experienced workers. Restorative Nottinghamshire, provided by Remedi, supports victims who wish to start a restorative process. You can find out more information here www.restorativenotts.org.uk or via email info@restorativenotts.org.uk
Out of Court Disposals
Section 101 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 came in force on 20th October 2014, and is designed to place the victim at the heart of decision making and requires the Commissioner and Nottinghamshire Police to consult with community members and Partners relating to the use of Community Remedy.
The Community Remedy Document is required legally to provide guidance aimed to support and guide activity between the Police, victims of crime and anti-social behaviour, communities, and offenders in delivering community remedy through the use of Out of Court Disposals. The Community Remedy is a means of consulting the victim about any possible conditions to be attached to their resolution.
Anti-social behaviour and low-level crime affects people’s lives on a daily basis, it matters to the victims and communities of Nottinghamshire. Dealing with Anti-social behaviour is a multi-agency responsibility due to the wide range of behaviours that are involved, from vandalism, street drinking to noisy and abusive neighbours and the Community Remedy document will be used to enhance the existing processes to deliver community resolutions and conditional cautions.
Although there are other Out of Court Disposals available to the Police, such as cautions and fixed penalty notices, only conditional cautions and community resolutions allow for additional reparation in consultation with the victim to be made.
The document is a list of options which might be appropriate to be carried out by a person who has engaged in anti-social behaviour or who has committed a low-level offence and is suitable to be dealt with by means of a community resolution (CR) or conditional caution (Youth or Adult).
Out of Court Scrutiny Panel
Out of Court Disposals allow the police to deal quickly and proportionately with low level, often first time, offending that can be appropriately resolved without a prosecution at court. Delivered ethically, effectively, to the right people and in the right circumstances they provide swift and meaningful justice for victims, hold offenders accountable for their actions and reduce re-offending.
Nottinghamshire’s Out of Court Disposal Scrutiny Panel was set up to scrutinise the use of out of court disposals in line with national guidance. The purpose of the panel is to determine whether the method of disposal is appropriate, based on a review of the information/evidence available to the decision maker at the time. To determine this, the panel considers:
• The views and feedback from the victim and the offender.
• Compliance with force policy.
• Rationale for the decision and outcome.
• Potential community impact.
• Circumstances and seriousness of the offence.
• Potential alternative options that may have been available.
The scrutiny panel independently review a selection of anonymised cases that have been resolved by use of an out of court disposal. The scrutiny panel has no referral or appeals capability and is not intended to re-judge cases. It assesses the relevant processes, interactions, and decisions to identify any areas for development and to promote continuous organisational learning.
The panel members meet quarterly and during each meet audit 15 cases, across adult and youths, resolved by OoCD. These cases will be reviewed to identify any areas that could be improved or require additional information, and either agree or disagree with the disposal decision. Based on this, the panel will award the case with one of the following categories:
• Appropriate use consistent with policy.
• Appropriate use with Panel Members’ reservations.
• Inappropriate use or inconsistent with policy.
• Panel fails to reach a conclusion.
The panel membership comprises of a range of criminal justice services professionals including representatives from the Police, Criminal Justice Service, Youth Offending Team, Magistrates and Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner representatives who aim to bring transparency to the use of Out of Court Disposals to increase public understanding and confidence in their use. Findings of the panel, together with responses to recommendations made, are reported publicly to support this aim.
See the latest Annual Report for the Scrutiny Panel below for an overview of there findings.