Youth Justice

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Youth Justice
Giving victims a voice

• Alan McCloskey
• Area Director Central
• Victim Support Scotland

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Victim Support ScotlandBackground info

• Lead voluntary organisation in Scotland dealing
  with victims of crime since 1985
• Independent of government and other agencies
• Victims of crime in Scotland receive the best
  support services
• European Union Crime and Safety Survey 2005

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Victim Support Scotland2007 / 08 statistics

• 100,000 victims of crime assisted in communities
• 81,000 people assisted in court
• 1000 victims of youth crime offered shuttle
  mediation

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Issues for victims

• Mediation / Restorative Justice processes still
  relatively new concept in Scotland
• Not available across Scotland very patchy and
  gaps in services
• Youth Justice Services - readily available
• Criminal Justice System - offered as diversion
  from prosecution in a few areas only
• Public awareness low
• Difficult to grasp concept
• Thought of meeting offender again can be scary
• Uncertain of whose needs are being met offender
  or victim

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Priorities for VSS

• Victims interests must be at core
• Offender needs secondary
• Participation of victims in RJ process voluntary
  / optional
• Not at request of offender based organisation
• Victims need choice of models
• Need access to information and support
• Need time

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Young victims of crime

• The majority of incidents against 10-15 year olds
  take place in school
• 95 of children claim to have suffered some kind
  of victimisation
• In Scotland, young people aged 16 to 24 (both
  male and female) are most likely to become
  victims of personal crime
• 16 of 16-24 year old males and 8 of females in
  the same age group have been victims of assault
• Young people are also at a high risk of being
  repeat victims of violent crimes, with 19
  experiencing five or more incidents in one year

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Link between victimisation offending among
young people

• If a young person is the victim of a violent
  crime, there is a risk that the person will go on
  to become an offender him/herself
• Being a victim of crime at the age of 12 is one
  of the most prevailing indicators that a child
  will offend at 15. Likewise, offending at age 12
  brings a strong possibility of victimisation at
  15
• If a young victim of crime is provided with
  appropriate support and good role models, it is
  possible to break the link between victimisation
  and offending

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VSS VOYCE ServiceShuttle mediation

• Victims of Youth Crime (VOYCE) Service in Dundee
• Benefits of service
• Victim centred approach
• Offers victims access to information and support
• Opportunity to express impact of crime (Shuttle
  mediation) to young person responsible (U16s)
• Victims can choose to access any, or all parts of
  service

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VOYCE ServiceOther benefits

• Service promotes victim awareness
• Enables case workers to focus on specific victim
  issues
• Multi-agency approach
• Police, Local Authority Social Work, SCRA and
  other offender-based agencies
• Partners aware of victims issues
• Victims who want direct mediation can access
• Helps young people consider offender behaviour

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VOYCE 2007 / 08 statistics

• 1091 referrals
• Main crime categories
• Assault (23)
• Vandalism (20)
• Breach of peace (15)
• Age groups affected
• 30-44 (32)
• 0-15 (25)
• 4559 (20)
• Assault 73 of all referrals for U16s
• Shuttle cases
• Local Authority (68)
• Individuals (27)

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VOYCE user feedback

• Victims feel have a voice
• Can get answers to why?
• Internal and external evaluation
• High satisfaction rate
• gt90 found service helpful / very helpful

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The future?

• Youth Justice Framework Preventing Offending by
  Young People A framework for action
• Multi agency approach aimed at ensuring
  Child-centered approach to
• Prevention
• Early and effective intervention
• Managing high risk
• Victims and community confidence
• Planning and performance improvement