Restorative Justice

Tameside Youth Offending Team

• What is Restorative Justice (RJ)?
• What does the Youth Offending Team (YOT) achieve?
• What does Restorative Justice include?
• Some examples of Restorative Justice
• Who benefits from Restorative Justice?
• Its Your Choice

What is Restorative Justice (RJ)

It involves the victim and offender and the community and can include families, communities and friends. It helps victims understand why it happened and helps reduce the fear of crime. It also helps offenders to take greater responsibility for their actions.

What does the Youth Offending Team (YOT) achieve?

The YOT encourages young people who commit offences to take responsibility for the harm and loss they have caused their victims. Research shows that this is a major factor in reducing further offending.

Restorative Justice includes:

Victim/Offender mediation: This involves the offender meeting the victim to explain their actions and apologise. It helps the victim to explain the problems it caused and hopefully reduce the fear of it happening again.

Direct Reparation: May involve the young offender writing a letter of apology to the victim or carrying out a task at the request of the victim to benefit the victim, local community or an charitable organisation the victim is involved with.

Indirect Reparation: is where the victim does not want direct reparation and may involve some activity or work carried out for the benefit of the community.

All restorative justice activities are supervised by trained staff and specifically trained mediators.

Some examples of Restorative Justice?

• Meeting the young person face-to-face. This meeting would be in a supervised and controlled, safe environment. The victim can tell the offender the effects of the crime and possible ways of repairing the harm.
• Nominating a Tameside community project that young people can be involved in such as local regeneration, charitable or multi agency projects, which benefit the local community.
• Agreeing involvement in a project which is personal to the victim or carrying out some practical work for them.

Who benefits from Restorative Justice?

Victims

• Victims needs are no longer ignored
• Victims may get answers to their questions
• Victims can tell their story
• Victims can participate in the settlement

Youth Offenders

• Offenders face up to the consequences of their actions and are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions
• Offenders can tell their story.
• Offenders will do something positive to pay back to the community.

Communities

• Communities are directly involved in reducing crime, enabling them to contribute to reducing offending in their area.
• Community safety is addressed in a positive way
• Communities become more accepting of/and value reformed offenders

Its Your Choice

Taking part in a restorative process is completely voluntary and the YOT will respect your wishes at all times. Whatever you decide, Tameside YOT remains committed to educating young people about the effects of their actions on victims and communities through the programmes they deliver. We cannot do this without your help and involvement. Tameside YOT needs.

If you know of any projects in your area that we could become involved in please contact the Restorative Justive Development Coordinator on the number below.

Contact Information
Send us a Message	Youth Offending Team 31 Clarence Arcade Stamford Street Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7PT View local map
0161 342 7680
0161 342 7692