Pioneering scheme for victims of youth crime
A pioneering scheme helping young victims of violent crime recover is being rolled out after a successful pilot.
Earlier this year, Warwickshire’s Youth Justice Service held Goals UK motivational workshops for young men aged between 16 and 24, who had been a victim of an offence caused by another young person.
Now, following the trial in March, the three-day workshops – running from 13 to 15 July 2010 – are open to any young victim over 15-years-old and will be held at a central location to be confirmed to participants.
Heather Shilling, Operations Manager (Interventions) for Warwickshire Youth Justice Service, said: “Becoming a victim of any crime can be a traumatic experience for anyone - however violent crime can often leave lasting effects on an individual.
“Feedback we received from the pilot suggests that the motivational workshops do have a positive affect in helping participants and their families deal with what has happened.
“They learn how to rebuild their self-esteem and motivation, while helping them realise that in the majority of cases, they weren’t a specific target and shouldn’t feel like they were in the wrong.”
Heather continued: “Much of our focus is on rehabilitating the offender but more recently in addition to this we’re spending more time helping the victims of crime as well.
“Ultimately, although these workshops are aged at the under-25s, we would encourage any victim of crime caused by a young person to talk to us for information and support after informing the police.”
The costs of the project have been met by the Community cash back fund, which uses seized proceeds of crime to help those affected by it, through the provision of services and facilities for the local community.
Zafar Siddique, representative from the Warwickshire Criminal Justice Board added: “The public response to Community Cashback in Warwickshire has been huge, and we thank everyone who took the time to either nominate a project or have their say on which project they felt would benefit from funding in our area.
“It is fantastic that we have been able to respond to the community’s needs and that the ill-gotten gains of criminals will now be channelled into projects that will make a real positive difference to the local communities and the lives of individuals.”
To find out more about the Warwickshire Youth Justice Service visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/yjs or for more information regarding the Goals UK Motivational workshops contact Karen Burgess on 01926 680252.