Re-offending decreases as criminals face the victims

Paul O’Hara, manager of Bradford Youth Offending Team, said the “restorative justice” clinics set up across the city last year have had a 90 per cent success rate in preventing re-offending.

Speaking before Parliament’s backbench Justice Committee yesterday, Mr O’Hara said parents of young offenders in Bradford are now “queuing up” to put their children into the new clinics and have them face their victims, rather than simply receive formal police cautions or reprimands as before.

“Parents are given an option of whether they wish their child to be formerly cautioned or given police reprimand, or to attend a restorative justice clinic,” he told MPs.

“I have queues of parents queuing outside these clinics who are desperate for an opportunity for their children to be given another chance.

“To date we have a 90 per cent success rate, with a very high level of satisfaction and a very high level of involvement from victims.

“That means 90 per cent of people have not been re-arrested by the police since it started.

“It’s still early days but it’s very promising.”

Restorative justice has been used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Northern Ireland for some time, but was dismissed as a “fad” by opponents when first suggested in the UK two years ago.

But Mr O’Hara said the scheme is popular with victims and police, as well as the parents of the young offenders.

“The parental feedback has been very positive; the police are very supportive, because it means police officers’ time is not being removed from the streets in the processing of offenders,” he said.

Painting a positive picture of youth crime rates in Bradford, Mr O’Hara said the number of young people being referred to his team has fallen 70 per cent over the past five years thanks to changes in the way the council, police and other local bodies deal with problem families, intervening before young people begin to commit criminal offences.

In particular, the younger siblings of offenders are being targeted in an effort to prevent them following the same path.

“There has been a huge shift in the age profile of offenders that we are now dealing with,” he said. “The majority of offenders in Bradford – and I’m sure that’s reflected elsewhere – are 15, 16, 17 (years old). Previously it would be 13, 14, 15.

“I think that does reflect there is some very positive work going on. I do believe that some of the preventative work has been successful.”

Mr O’Hara said the number of young people being jailed across West Yorkshire has been cut by almost a quarter in just 12 months thanks to changes in the way his team deals with those serving community sentences.

“We identified that the main reason young people were being sent into custody wasn’t for robbery, wasn’t for burglary, wasn’t for violent crime – it was actually for breach of community sentence,” he said.

Staff training has been improved, he said, and new punishments devised.

“We had a process whereby if you turned up late for your appointment you were sent home,” he told MPs.

“We have now changed that, so if people turn up late for a session they are taken out immediately to do litter-picking.

“I can tell you now that after two sessions of litter-picking, they turn up on time.”