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We believe the best way to reduce youth offending
is by ensuring young people understand the harm their behaviour has
caused.
This can be achieved by making them take responsibility for
their actions and by them attempting to make amends to their victim
and their local community.
If you have experienced a crime it may have left you with many
questions and feelings that do not easily go way.
In our experience victims of crime often want to know the
answers to the following questions:
- Why did it happen to me?
- Does the offender realise the harm they have caused me?
- Is it going to happen again?
- What sort of person would do this?
- What do their family think of their behaviour?
- What will the consequences be for the offender?
Letting an offender know about how a victims feels about their
crime and how it affected them will help the offender face up to
the consequences of their behaviour.
In turn, this can help reduce the chance of them committing
further offences.
We expect young offenders to take responsibility for the
consequences of their actions and make amends for the harm they
have caused.
This happens through our range of programmes from
Final
Warning to our system of court
orders.
There are a number of ways in which victims may choose to take
part including:
- Receiving a letter of apology from the offender
- Attending a victim / offender meeting, alongside a family
member or friend, where they have the opportunity to ask questions
and let them know how the offence affected them
- Choosing to have your views passed on by one of our team if
they do not want to meet the offender face-to-face
We will take into account a victim's needs and wishes, fully
support and respect their choices and allow them to withdraw from
this completely voluntary process at any stage.
Victims are usually contacted by our Youth Offending Team in
response to a reported offence.
For further information download and view our
Information for Victims Of Crime leaflet. |