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Projects to support young crime victims
Five areas across the country have been awarded a share of nearly half a million pounds to create the next generation of support services for young victims of crime, the Justice Secretary and Home Secretary announced today, during Inside Justice Week.
Five new pilot schemes in Derby, Lambeth, Norfolk, Lewisham and Oxfordshire will:
* deliver workshops in and out of school to give young people information on how to keep themselves safe;
* run drop-in sessions in schools that young people can go to for support;
* develop peer support networks in schools to encourage reporting and provide restorative solutions;
* enable anonymous reporting though school intranet portals;
* run a campaign to inform young people about special measures at court to encourage them to come forward as witnesses;
* film a talking heads DVD to show other young victims that they are not alone;
* provide one to one support for young victims who need it;
* deliver training by young people for police on how better to work with young people; and
* deliver sports sessions to boost self esteem to help make them resilient to victimisation and offending.
The five pilot schemes are one part of the delivery of the £100 million Youth Crime Action Plan announced in July 2008. As well as improving support for young victims, the plan set out a 'triple track' approach of enforcement and punishment where behaviour is unacceptable, non-negotiable support and challenge where it is most needed, and better and earlier prevention.
Reducing youth crime and improving the youth justice system is a central part of the Government's effort to build safer communities and to drive down crime. Although young people are more often victims of crime than adults they are much less likely to report incidents to the authorities, which is the main way that adults are able to get support.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:
"I want to ensure that young people are offered as much protection from crime as possible - young people are often blamed for causing crime but in fact they are more likely to be victims than perpetrators. I hope these pilots, part of the £100 million Youth Crime Action Plan, will provide young victims with support to get back on their feet and show them that the criminal justice system will look after their interests.
Being a victim of crime is one of the risk factors for committing an offence yourself - by intervening to support young victims I hope to prevent some of these young victims later turning to crime."
Justice Secretary Jack Straw said:
"We have done a lot to reform the justice system so that it provides a better service to those who have been the victims of crime, but there is more to do. These projects are an opportunity for those who work with young people, in the justice service and crucially also in schools and the community, to continue to develop the best ways to help young victims of crime."
Attorney General Baroness Patricia Scotland said:
"The effects of being a victim of crime can be severe and far reaching, especially for the young. These projects will provide vital support if that happens but also help young people avoid becoming victims in the first place, reaching them in ways they are comfortable with."
London Criminal Justice Board Chief Executive, Andrew Morley said:
"We are delighted that two of the pilot schemes are taking place in London. They are aligned well with our youth strategy, which has the needs of young victims firmly at its heart.
"The scope of both pieces of work means new and innovative ways of providing end to end support for young victims of crime can be tested and help improve young people's confidence in the criminal justice service. Our hope is that there will be real benefits in the Lewisham and Lambeth schemes, which can then be rolled out across London, ultimately making our communities safer."
Victim Advisory Panel member, Kathryn Stone said:
"The young victim pilot projects are an important way of helping us understand the complex relationship between young people as victims and as offenders. This is an area often overlooked and we look forward to positive outcomes."
Over the next six months the five areas will pilot new approaches to strengthening links between the police, the courts, schools and the voluntary sector. They will aim to make the criminal justice system less intimidating for youngsters to encourage greater reporting, less offending, with more support services and better identification of individuals at risk.
At the end of the pilot each area will produce a pledge stating how they will support young people at each stage of victimisation: from preventing victimisation in the first place and encouraging reporting to assessing victims' needs and providing appropriate support. These pledges will guide other areas across the country as they roll out similar services.
The pilots will be run by a consortium of organisations including Youth Offending Teams, the police, Children's Services, schools, Pupil Referral Units, Victim Support and other voluntary sector organisations in Lambeth, Lewisham, Derby, Norfolk and Oxfordshire.
The Home Secretary announced the new money on a visit to the Lambeth pilot area. She saw young people engaging in positive activities run by the national charity Fairbridge. The programme develops young people's confidence and self esteem building their resilience to victimisation and offending.
Fairbridge is part of the successful Lambeth consortium, which also includes the police, the Youth Offending Service, local schools and Pupil Referral Units, Victim Support, Women's Aid and the charity Flipside.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The Youth Crime Action Plan was published in July 2008 setting out how the Government will tackle youth crime and support young victims of crime.
2. In May the Government announced proposals to extend the British Crime Survey (BCS) to include surveys of under-16s' experiences of crime - establishing the most comprehensive picture of youth victimisation.
3. The Government is committed to improving the safety of children and young people and the cross-government 'Staying Safe Action Plan' published in February 2008 supports this.
4. In recent years the Government has improved significantly the services for all victims of crime: giving them statutory rights to information through the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime; improving how their voice is heard in the system through innovations such as the Victims Personal Statement; and enhancing support including increasing spending on Victim Support from £11.7m in 1997 to £37m today
5. The projects will start by the end of November and run for six months.
6. Inside Justice Week, the annual public awareness week, gives people the opportunity to get a better look at the work of many agencies working within the criminal justice system including the police, magistrates and probation service.
7. This year the London Criminal Justice Board has focussed its Inside Justice Week on young people, running a programme of events across the capital including, teacher in the dock, schools presentations and mock arrests, interviews and trials.
