“Giving victims a voice”
Community Remedy follows the familiar ethos of restorative justice and is intended to give victims of low-level crime & ASB a say in a perpetrators out of court punishment. It allows Police & designated officers (PCSOs) to draw from a list contained in a "Community Remedy Document". The aim is to make community justice transparent to victims and the public, with fair punishments
The "document" has been compiled by the Police and Crime Commissioner with agreement with the Chief Constable following extensive public consultation.
How will the “Community Remedy Document” give victims a say? The document is essentially a list of possible outcomes available on offer to victims, having looked at the options available the victim is able to give the officer/PCSO dealing with their incident feedback regarding their preferred disposal... the officer will take the victims views into account when making any decisions regarding out of court punishment, the final decision however is the officers.
There are some conditions that have to be met, both victim & perpetrator must agree to the process and the offence must be admitted and evidenced.
The list of community remedy options in Leicestershire are detailed below...
- Mediation (getting both parties to talk to each other, for example to solve a neighbour dispute)
- A written or verbal apology
- The person responsible signing an Acceptable Behaviour Contract (where the person responsible agrees not to repeat such behaviour in the future, if they do they will face more formal consequences)
- Attend a neighbour justice panel (the person responsible meets with representative of the local community so that they understand the consequences of their behaviour and the panel will agree further action)
- Repairing damage (for example cleaning up graffiti or replacing a smashed window)
- Paying an appropriate amount for repair or replacement
- Participation in a funded initiative (for example by doing unpaid work for the community to support a project that has been set up by the Police and Crime Commissioner to reduce crime)
- Do something to compensate the community (for example by doing unpaid local work for an appropriate period of time, such as picking up litter)
- Words of advice from a Police Officer or PCSO