UPDATE! Council backs Community Justice Panels

11.47.00am GMT Wed 19th Mar 2008

At Tuesday night's meeting the City Council backed the Lib Dem motion supporting the implementation of Community Justice Panels.

The full motion passed was:

'This Council:

• notes the growing use of restorative justice by local authorities to combat challenging behaviour in a way that restores relationships within a community.

• recognises the good work that is already being undertaken to promote the use of such an approach by the Local Criminal Justice Board, Norfolk Constabulary, the Norfolk Partnership for Children and Young People, the Youth Offending Team and welcomes ongoing efforts by these organisations to move the initiative forward.

• notes the success of Community Justice Panels piloted by other local authorities. Through these low-level offenders who admit their guilt are given the choice of avoiding a criminal record by going before a panel of local people, where they explain and make a symbolic apology to the community. The panel then agrees a course of reparation with the offender. If the reparation (e.g. removing graffiti or making repairs to communal structures) is successfully completed, the case is closed. If not the case goes to court in the normal way. If the offender does not consent to the programme of reparation, the case would also go back to court. These panels offer victims and members of the wider community a real and visible way of resolving issues and incidents and have been shown to increase victim confidence in the Criminal Justice System and give the offender the opportunity to repay the victims and the wider community. All panelists are trained in the practice of restorative justice and probation professionals help ensure that the panel's "orders" are proportionate to the offence.

• resolves to support Community Justice Panels and encourage chairs of Safer Neighbourhood Panels and communities to support them in Norwich as a way of combating challenging behaviour in local communities and providing a more peaceful environment in which people can live and work in safety. '