Youth Justice Service

What we do

• When a young person is arrested, they must have an appropriate adult with them, so the police can carry out an interview. If there are no parents/guardians available, we will find an appropriate adult for them. 
• If the young person is brought to a youth court by the police, we will assess the young person to see if they pose a risk to themselves or others whilst in custody.
• In court, before the Magistrate passes sentence, we write a Pre-Sentence Report, which lets the court know about the person's behaviour, family background and helps the court to sentence the young person. 
• We will work with the young person, family and solicitor to provide a bail supervision and support package. 
• During the whole process, we try to find out if the young person needs any extra support and help them to find it.
• We also work with families, the police, the courts, victims of crime and the local community.

Working with parents

• We provide parents with one-to-one support, group work, workshops, parenting sessions and signpost parents to other services.
• Parents are invited to regular review meetings, where they can have an active input into their child's intervention plan.
• Our case managers call parents on a weekly/fortnightly basis with an update of their child's progress and to discuss any issues.
• We invite all parents to attend our parenting events and to have a good working relationship with the Youth Justice Service.

Supporting victims

• If consent is given, the police will pass on the victim's details to us and we will offer the victim access to reparation and a restorative justice service.
• Restorative justice can be a face-to-face meeting between a victim and an offender (led by a trained facilitator), or indirect communication where messages are passed between the victim and offender - this is dependent on what the victim is comfortable with.
• This gives the victim the opportunity to have a say in the activities and tasks the young person has to complete.
• It can provide closure to the victim and provides young people with the opportunity to see the impact of their crime and to apologise to the victim.
• Victims have the right to change their mind at any point during the process.
• We will not put any pressure on victims to meet with offenders.
• We will ensure the victim's confidentiality.