How restorative justice plays a key part in tackling anti-social behaviour

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a harmful crime which I know causes the people of Dorset great concern. It is why I made tackling it one of the six priorities of my Police and Crime Plan. Over the years, when out and about speaking to the public about feeling safe and secure where they live, ASB has consistently been one of the main topics of conversation. This is why I have been relentless in my determination to tackle it. Therefore, I am pleased that thanks to robust action, targeted patrols and police initiatives including the 100 Days of Summer campaign, we have seen some encouraging results in Dorset, including a 14% drop in incidences of ASB in the past year.

One of the projects which will make a significant contribution to tackling these incidences and reducing reoffending is Immediate Justice. This scheme tackles anti-social behaviour and low-level crime by tasking offenders with a number of hours of unpaid work, along with education to prevent further offending. The action is taken after the offence is committed and currently only applies to adult first-time offenders. My recent newsletter focused on the latest with this scheme, and today I want to hand over to Jackie Willson from Restorative Solutions to give further details about the crucial measures they deliver as part of the Immediate Justice initiative in Dorset.

Jackie Willson, Service Delivery Manager at Restorative Solutions

Under the Immediate Justice scheme, we offer two initiatives: an anti-social behaviour (ASB) awareness course and community conferencing. Both use restorative approaches with an emphasis on education and support to bring about change in behaviours and reduce instances of further offending, as well as making amends to either individual victims or groups and giving those affected a voice.

Anti-social behaviour awareness course

This course is available as one of several conditions set when offenders are given a community resolution or conditional caution as an outcome to a criminal investigation. The course is a mandatory two-hour face-to-face course and is set as a condition of the police referral.

This course aims to deliver a restorative and rehabilitative input to those who have committed ASB offences including damage, assault, theft, abusive and threatening behaviour, disorderly conduct and nuisance behaviour. It is delivered in person and seeks to challenge the behaviours by exploring why and what led to the offence, who has been affected and how, and what needs to be done differently to change behaviours, as well as importantly, repairing the harm caused. 

This also includes identifying factors which can affect behaviour such as substance misuse, mental health, economic factors, home environment, lack of support, peer pressure, anger management, poor decision making and community breakdown in order to provide support and education while being very clear about what could happen next if that unacceptable behaviour continues.

So far, participants have engaged positively and been willing to talk about the behaviour which led them to attend the course, while being supported in identifying what changes they need to make to become responsible, law abiding, productive members of society.

Victims are very much at the heart of any restorative process and have a choice as to whether they wish to share information about the impact of the antisocial behaviour within the course and/or to engage with the person who has caused the harm.  This gives them the opportunity to be heard, to ask questions of the offender and to have their say in the resolution of the harm caused.

Sometimes this has been by way of a simple apology.  In other cases, there has been a willingness to want to discuss why things happened and to talk about the impact of the offending behaviour on others as well as the harm caused. It is entirely the victim’s choice whether they wish to engage in the restorative intervention.

In instances where there is no identified victim, the offender can still be given the condition to attend an awareness course as this looks at the impact of antisocial behaviour in general. The course also explores the impact of ASB on the wider community. 

Community Conference

Where there has been a community affected by ASB, we also offer Community Conferencing. The term Community Conference is used to describe the measures we take to tackle an incident or ongoing situation that has affected a wide group of people.

Community conferencing can be used to deal with criminal acts, reports of general anti-social behaviour or a neighbourhood dispute. This is a voluntary intervention and requires both those affected and those committing ASB to consent to take part. The process aims to give all those involved in the community a voice to express how they feel about what is happening and what they need for things to improve and for incidents to reduce. 

This process can also include the participation of local authorities who duty it is to take enforcement action to try and agree a way forward.

For those involved, thinking about the way forward and moving on from past events can spark change. Outcome agreements from community conferences have led to commitments focused on reasonable and acceptable ways for all to behave but also what action may be taken if further antisocial behaviour is committed.

Thank you to Jackie for providing such a helpful overview. I know how detrimental ASB is to communities in Dorset, and I hope this goes some way towards reassuring the residents of Dorset that we are using a number of different tools and methods to successfully tackle it and prevent it from being repeated.

I am clear when I say I want Dorset to be the safest place. Through effectively dealing with ASB and the impact it has, I know we will achieve that mission, and in turn all feel safer and more secure where we live and work.

David Sidwick

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner