Community court piloted in Hampshire

Hampshire’s community court is about to go live with volunteers completing their training and ready to take on real-life cases later this summer.

The community court is a three-year pilot in the Fareham and Gosport area that seeks to improve outcomes for young, first-time offenders and increase their chance of rehabilitation instead of entering into a cycle of reoffending.

It seeks to use peer pressure, one of the main reasons for young people to offend, to reverse their attitude to crime and anti-social behaviour.

The pilot is being run by Hampshire Constabulary and funded entirely by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire as part of the police and crime commissioner’s (PCC) commitment to reduce reoffending. It is aimed at complementing the existing criminal justice system and is not intended to replace criminal courts for young people. The Hampshire community court will deal only with cases that would not have been heard at a criminal court.

The 16 volunteers, between the ages of 14 and 24, come from wide range of social and personal backgrounds and have completed two months of training, collectively putting in more than 900 volunteering hours for the constabulary to gain the skills and knowledge that allow them to become judges, advocates or members of the peer jury at the community court. As part of their role they will be dealing with young first-time offenders of low-level crime who have admitted their responsibility, and advise on appropriate educational, restorative and rehabilitating sanctions.

The training included developing listening and questioning skills, understanding the principles and provisions of restorative justice, knowledge of equality issues and awareness of available and appropriate educational and rehabilitating interventions.

PCC Simon Hayes said the volunteers had shown great enthusiasm to get involved in the initiative “because they want to make a difference, because they want to help less privileged young people, and because they have been there themselves and feel they can empathise better with a young person than any adult ever could”.

“Similar to our Youth Commission, this is all about working with young people and making them part of the solution to crime instead of just seeing them as the problem,” he said.

PC Mark Walsh, who is managing the project, added: “I genuinely believe that young people can be the solution to a lot of problems in our society if only they are given the right support and opportunities to make a difference. I am proud of the commitment our young volunteers have made to the programme so far which has demonstrated they are up to the important tasks ahead of them.

“The Hampshire community court pilot builds on the traditions of partnership working with the community but perhaps for the first time extends it to be more inclusive of young people.”