Play a youthful role in your community
Warwickshire County Council’s Youth Offending Team is appealing for volunteers to get involved with community justice and help reduce the rate of re-offending in young people.
Volunteers are being sought to give their time to youth referral order panels, which involve members of the community playing an active role in tackling youth crime and listening to what victims have to say.
Panel members help devise programmes to stop young people from re-offending.
Referral Panels include two trained panel members, a youth offending team practitioner, the young person and his or her parent and ideally the victim of the offence.
Heather Shilling, Operations Manager for Warwickshire County Council’s Youth Offending Team, said: “The remit of the panel is to find ways to help the young person stop offending and to give victims a chance to let the young people know how the crime committed affected them.
"A programme of work is organised for this purpose with the young people making amends directly to the victim or doing unpaid work for the benefit of others.“
Referral Orders were introduced in April 2002 to involve community volunteers in the response to and reduction of youth crime.
The orders are now well established throughout England and Wales as the primary means of addressing offending by young people who are first time offenders, and who plead guilty.
Heather Shilling added: ”Referral orders work especially well when victims agree to attend the panel and the young people understand the consequences of their actions.
"Since the inception of youth referral orders, we have found that approximately 6 out of every 10 young people do not offend again.”
Volunteers receive training to ensure that they have the necessary knowledge and skill to carry out this role effectively. Initial training is carried out on three weekday evenings and one weekend held in Warwickshire.
Applications for the next intake should be made by mid-May, although people who would like to get involved at a later stage are welcome to register their interest at any time.
Panel members should be over 18 years of age and have
· Patience, good judgement and objectivity
· Commitment and reliability
· Good listening and communication skills
· The ability to relate to young people
If you are interested please contact Jenny Hill, Administrator, on 01926 736 200 for an information and application pack or for further discussion contact Jo Mann, Team Leader, who is also available on the same number.