Aims:
To share ideas among Panel Members in different communities, with exemplars for comparison, so that our young people can get fair and proportionate support in their Panels, no matter what their postcode, and to assist the victims of crimes to participate restoratively, if they wish.

To support and promote referral orders from the volunteers’ perspective, as “boundary stones” between the community and corporate services, and as an essential element of social cohesion that enables communities to take ownership for helping young people steer clear of the criminal justice system.

Research by The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) draws on lessons from countries like Canada and New Zealand and experiences within the UK in Scotland and Northern Ireland, which suggest that an approach using Community Justice Panels can lower crime and reduce re-offending. In a Canadian study, offenders who were dealt with using restorative justice had a much lower reconviction rate - just 11 percent compared with 37 percent of those who went to prison.

YJB  Developing and Emerging Practice

Referral Order Action Plan 2009/10 and summary of September 2007 consultation responses

AOPM's 2007 survey findings