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Appointment of Community Justice Judge, Liverpool (2004)

COMMUNITY JUSTICE CENTRE PILOT LIVERPOOL: VISION STATEMENT
PROBLEM-SOLVING JUSTICE ON THE DOORSTEP

What? A pilot to put the community at the centre of justice and justice back into the heart of the community.

Why? To tackle crimes and anti-social behaviour which make communal life miserable and to reach offenders and their problems before they progress to serious crime.

How? A multi-purpose community building bringing services and facilities to local people. A court to handle low-level crime where the community is often the victim. Court sentences which combine punishment with support to help offenders kick their crime habit. Community punishments which do the jobs local people want done. Community involvement in helping to steer people away from the crime route.

Where? North Liverpool

When? 2004-2006

What are the main ingredients?

• Community voice in the criminal justice system so that local choices are reflected in policing and penalties eg routine police visibility in the places and at the times people want, or offenders sent to the streets and graffiti people want cleaned up.
  
• Co-location and/or close collaboration of services to give the community quick payback from offenders and to give offenders the help they need when they need it eg first appointment for counselling or a community punishment lined up for offenders as they leave the courtroom.
  
• Judicial supervision of sentences so that offenders know that the judge will not forget them when they leave the courtroom but will follow progress and congratulate compliance or tackle breach.
  
• Community involvement in justice so that everyone helps the fight against crime and fear of crime eg young people and adults being part of early intervention panels to challenge others who are beginning to behave badly and to help them get back on the right track.
  
• Activities happening in and around the building on offer for everyone and reflecting local choice. Eg. sport, art, education, training, local interest meetings, advice and support services, information centre and a place just to drop into for coffee.
  

Where did the idea come from?
Red Hook Community Justice Center in New York and we will take from it the ingredients which suit North Liverpool. Red Hook, a deprived and high unemployment area suffered from spiralling crime of mostly of drug related offences. The shooting of a respected school teacher jolted the community into action to reclaim the area from criminals. The Center for Court Innovation helped the community to create a problem solving court to handle low level crime committed by local people within the environment of a community building.

How might this work in Liverpool?
One building will house a courtroom; the criminal justice agencies; advice, representational, support and rehabilitation services needed by local people as well as by local offenders, and space and facilities for local people to use for community activities.

The court will handle 'quality of life' low level offending by youths and adults and anti-social behaviour related housing cases. Offences are likely to include property damage, theft, prostitution, vandalism, fly tipping, graffiti etc, nuisance, drunkenness, drug offences, begging, harassment and vehicle related crime. The court is not expected to handle sexual or violent crime.

The court is likely to be presided over by one judge who will monitor compliance with treatment programmes and community punishment.

The community will be asked to help the justice system by identifying priorities for community punishments and by participating in intervention and diversionary schemes for young people and adults who are beginning to behave badly.

Blending fun with seriousness, the community justice centre will also be the first choice locally for people to go to spend free time or to find help with problems.

This is the framework of a community justice centre, the fabric can only be added through consultation with the people of North Liverpool about their fears, hopes and needs.

What will the people of North Liverpool get out of it?

• less offending and anti-social behaviour
  
• less fear of crime
  
• more confidence in the criminal justice system
  
• more satisfaction for victims & witnesses
  
• more participation in the criminal justice system, including coming forward to report crime and to attend court as a victim or witness
  
• a criminal justice system which is more responsive to local needs
  
• the benefit on outcome and efficiency of taking a more holistic approach to low level offending e.g. dealing with criminal and housing related aspects of ASB together
  
• more compliance by offenders with community sentences and treatment programmes
  
• a timely response to low level offending - reducing the time from arrest to sentence
  
• more support or options for resolving issues without court involvement
  

How will success be measured?

• Whether offending and re-offending levels in the community justice centre catchment area for the types of offences handled by it decline more than in neighbouring areas where the normal criminal process applies
  
• Whether victim and witness satisfaction increases by at least the same level as in the rest of the Criminal Justice System in Merseyside
  
• Whether the costs of the community justice centre are outweighed by the savings to the Criminal Justice System as a whole in terms of a reduction in offending and reoffending
  

Will there be other pilots?
As well as testing whether or not problem-solving justice works, the pilot will help determine the best way to mainstream its benefits in other courts in England & Wales. The longer term strategy will be developed trilaterally - in DCA as part of the Consumer Strategy, in Home Office as part of the Active Communities, Anti-social Behaviour and Civil Renewal strategies.

 

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