by Eloise Peabody-Rolf
TheHampshire
Community Court United States
The event was covered by both the Portsmouth News
and Daily Echo, and after our meeting it was interesting to talk to the
journalists :
Following on from my previous Portsmouth Point
articles, I am pleased to say my application to volunteer for the Hampshire Community Court
The
It is hoped taking a ‘community’ approach will
prevent young people gaining a criminal record, and reduce re-offending rates.
The thinking is ‘if peer pressure was playing a part in getting young people
into trouble; couldn’t peer pressure also play a part in keeping them
out?’. The scheme will also enable victims to be more actively involved
in the process, and enable offenders to understand the impact of their
actions. The aim is that, ‘where crime hurts, restorative justice aims to
educate, rehabilitate and restore’.
Through this aim, we will recommend appropriate disposals, or actions
for the offender, which result from their hearing. These could include a service to the
community relevant to the offence, repairing damage caused, educational visits,
and central to all disposals would be apologising to the victim.
To support the programme, there are 16 volunteers,
ranging in age from 15 to 24, with a range of backgrounds and experience.
Sophie Parekh, another year 11, and I are amongst the youngest there.
Basically the volunteers will staff the court with roles including advocates
for the offenders and victims, a judge coordinating the proceedings, and
jury. Mark has organised a training programme to prepare us which we
started in late February, and he’s looking to hold the first hearings
mid-year. Our training will cover the judicial processes particularly for
youth criminal justice, the role of different agencies, restorative justice,
equality and fairness, potential opportunities for diversion activities, etc.
Plus it will include personal skills to help us obtain, process and present
information, decision making, team work, and even first aid! On
completion of our training, there will be an opportunity to take a BTEC
qualification, to recognise our learning and volunteering.
The pilot is receiving considerable attention,
and its activities and effectiveness will be closely
monitored. As I was a member of the Hampshire Youth
Commission, which Mark had consulted on the proposal, had helped with the
filming of a demonstration case, and now am a volunteer for the pilot, I
was invited to meet with the Right Honourable Chris Grayling MP, the Lord
High Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, when he visited
Hampshire on Friday 21 March. Along with 2 other volunteers, I
accompanied Mark Walsh to the meeting with Chris Grayling, Simon Hayes, and other
senior Hampshire County Council and PCC representatives. After Mark gave
an overview of the pilot, including excerpts from our film, we had an active
discussion on what we hope the pilot will achieve, peer pressure, why we
joined, the training we will be receiving.
Chris was keen to understand the volunteers’ views on its potential for
success, and was very interested and supportive of the initiative.
It’s exciting to have the opportunity to be part of
this restorative justice pilot.
From my perspective it’s giving me great insight, at times it’s been
quite an ‘eye opener’, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to experience part of
the judicial system first hand. I must admit the prospect of the
community courts running ‘for real’ is quite scary, however I’m looking forward
to putting our training into action. I
truly hope it will be successful in achieving its goals to make a difference to
the lives of both young offenders and victims.
For more information on peers courts, and Mark’s
research, please contact me or see :
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