View London Child Protection Procedures View London Child Protection Procedures

8.2.16 Victim Work

Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Contacting Victims
  3. Engaging the Victims


1. Introduction

1.1

Victim contact is an important part of the YOS restorative justice approach.  The Youth Justice Board’s approach to restorative justice focuses on two key elements:

  • Victim satisfaction – reducing the fear of the victim and ensuring they feel ‘paid back’ for the harm that has been done to them;
  • Engagement with the young person to ensure that they are aware of the consequences of their actions so that they show remorse, make reparation and sign up to a plan for their restoration in the community.
1.2 One of the performance measures from the Youth Justice Board relates to use of restorative justice and victim satisfaction.  The 2005/06 target is to ensure that 75% of victims of all youth crime referred to YOTs are offered the opportunity to participate in a restorative process and 75% of victims participating are satisfied.


2. Contacting Victims

2.1 The key workers within the YOS for obtaining victim details are the police officers.
2.2 All referrals coming into the YOS are processed by the administrative team, with referrals being added to Careworks.  The administrative team will also be responsible for completing an internal referral form, which will be passed on to the Police officers.  This referral form will request victim contact to be undertaken.  The exception to the above is Final Warning, which although entered onto Careworks by the administrative team, are managed by the police officers and so no referral form is completed.
2.3 All relevant victim information is kept in a victim file, situated on the Police Officer’s desk.  Once the victim details have been obtained from the Police computer, the police officer will contact the victim of the offence and discuss the current matter to determine how they have been affected.  They will also encourage the victim to be involved in some form of restorative justice.
2.4 The Police officer will ask the victim for permission to pass on their details to the relevant caseworker, who will subsequently contact the victim if they need to.  Should any further contact or ongoing work be necessary, it will then be the responsibility of that worker to contact the victim and obtain the additional information.  Any contact or information that the Police Officer has with the victim will be fed back to the relevant worker.  The Police Officer will prepare a brief report summarising all of the victim information.  
2.5 In the majority of cases the Police Officer will be able to provide the caseworker with information on the victim.  This information will then be incorporated into the relevant report and will also be used by the caseworker in any ongoing victim work with the young person.  If contact has not been made with the victim in time for a particular deadline, i.e. a Court date, attempts to contact the victim will still continue.  This information may then be used in future interventions with the young person, and reparation may still take place.
2.6 The Police Officer will be responsible for recording all relevant information on Careworks, including whether the victim has been satisfied with the restorative process and how.


3. Engaging the Victims

3.1 Any contact with victims of crime must take account of and respect the wishes about involvement in any restorative processes.  The involvement of victims of crime must always be entirely voluntary.  If the victim has indicated that they are not interested in any restorative processes, then there will be no further contact from the YOS.
3.2 When contacting victims the workers should introduce themselves and explain the purpose behind the call.  If appropriate then a discussion should take place with the victim around the offence and how they have been affected.
3.3 Victims should be contacted even if the young person is unwilling to engage in the process, as being sensitively listened to and receiving accurate information can be appreciated and can assist their recovery.  The victim should be contacted in a sensitive manner to establish whether and how they wish to participate.  Care should also be taken to avoid traumatising someone for a second time.
3.4 Victims should be offered the chance to meet the offender directly, although this will only take place if the worker assesses such a meeting to be suitable.  This may take the form of a victim-mediation conference or may involve the victim attending a panel meeting.
3.5 Victims may also be offered other forms of direct mediation, which ideally should be linked to the initial offence i.e. removing graffiti from the victim’s wall.  If this is not suitable, either due to the young person themselves or the wishes of the victim, then other forms of indirect reparation should be discussed with the victim i.e. a letter of apology.
3.6 Any form of direct reparation must involve the Reparation Co-ordinator.  A referral should be made outlining what the victim has requested.  The Reparation Co-ordinator will then undertake a risk assessment to determine the suitability of the direct reparation.  If such reparation is deemed suitable then the Reparation Co-ordinator will be responsible for organising this task.
3.7 If the victim is not interested in any form of reparation, then his/her views should still be sought so that this information can be included in the report and used in any future work or interventions with that young person.
3.8 If a victim is interested in any form of victim-offender mediation conference or wishes to attend at a panel meeting, then the Police Officer will be available to offer extra support during this process.  If it is felt that the victim may require additional support, then they will be offered the contact details of Victim Support, who will be able to assist them.
3.9 If workers feel that the victim is still traumatised and may benefit from additional support then they should refer victims to other forms of assistance such as Victim Support, counselling services etc. 
3.10 At the end of any form of victim contact, one of the police officers in the team will contact the victim again and undertake a victim satisfaction survey.  If the victim would rather that their views were given confidentially or they have not been contactable by phone, then the survey will be sent to them on a stamped self-addressed envelope.  The information from these surveys will be entered onto Careworks by the relevant police officer and the surveys kept together in a single folder.

End