Looking at employment - Nacro

More documents

Recommendations

Info

MEDIATINGfor a Safer SocietyBY STEPHANIEBRAITHWAITEPhoto: Stuart RaynerMediation is a method of conflict resolution that enables peopleinvolved in a conflict to reach a mutually acceptable agreement withthe help of a trained, neutral third party mediator.MEDIATION UK is a registered charity and the onlyumbrella organisation in the UK for projectsinvolving mediation, conflict resolution andaccredited training. The main areas of its work arein the local community to help solve neighbourhood conflicts, inschools and colleges to deal with problems such as bullying andother disruptive behaviour, and in the criminal justice system tomediate between the offender and his/her victim.In using mediation in the criminal justice system, the principlesof conflict resolution are used within the framework of‘restorative justice’. This has been defined by Tony Marshall, aformer Director of MEDIATION UK, as ‘a process whereby allthe parties with a stake in a specific offence come together toresolve collectively how to deal with the aftermath of theoffence and its implications for the future’.The main methods of mediation are: direct face-to-facemediation between the victim and the offender, where theydiscuss the offence and its implications, and agree on a form ofreparation; and family group conferencing, where in addition tothe victim and offender, members of their families and relevantmembers of the community can come together and go throughthe same kind of processes. If direct mediation is not an option,then indirect mediation is possible, using the mediator as a gobetween.Examples of restorative justice in action are the caution plusscheme and Retail Theft Initiative of Thames Valley Police andthe Northampton Diversion Scheme. There are obviousadvantages in using restorative justice methods in that the victimcan play a direct part and have a voice in the proceedings, andthe offender is made accountable for the offence and can learnabout the impact it has had on the victim, and both can take partin deciding on reparation.There have been many evaluations of such projects, both in theUK and in other parts of the world, and the results areencouraging. Any type of crime is relevant, at any stage of thecriminal justice system. All projects have demonstrated alowering of reconviction rates, from 2% in one scheme to 97%in another. But the reduction in offending behaviour is not theonly benefit. Levels of satisfaction for both victims andoffenders are consistently high when compared with those of thenormal system. Victims are grateful for the opportunity to meetthe offender, to be able to express their feelings and have someinfluence on the outcome. Offenders feel they have a greaterunderstanding of how their offence affected the victim andappreciate the opportunity of being able to help the victim andsay they are sorry.Reparation can take many forms, from direct reparation to thevictim in terms of the return of stolen goods, financialreimbursement or a personal service to the victim of some kind,to a form of several hours’ service to the local community orcharity. Reparation agreements are also more likely to becompleted in full when mediation has been included in thereparation process than when it has been directly ordered by thecourt.Other findings have shown that: mediation increases offenders’perception of the harm they have done to the victims; victimswant to help the offenders, especially the younger ones; bothvictims’ and offenders’ opinions of the police are morefavourable; offenders find the process more difficult thanappearing in court; many more victims take part in the processthan do in court; and fears of re-victimisation are decreased.Safer communities can be built by reductions in crime and fearof crime and also by involving and enabling members of thecommunity to solve their own problems, as all forms ofmediation attempt to do.Further opportunities for mediation involving the police,probation officers, social workers and local youth justice teamswill arise as a result of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,especially with the introduction of final warnings, reparation,action plan and supervision orders. Stephanie Braithwaite is a chartered forensic psychologistworking with MEDIATION UK as a volunteer.Recent developments in all the forms of mediation -including community, education, victim-offender,environmental, workplace and internationalrelations - will be discussed at the MEDIATION UKAnnual Conference in Sheffield from 17 to 19 June1999. For further details about the work ofMEDIATION UK or the conference, please contactTherese Windle at MEDIATION UK, Alexander House,Telephone Avenue, Bristol BS1 4BS. Tel: (0117) 9046661. Fax: (0117) 904 3331. Email:mediationuk@mediationuk.org.ukSee news item on NACRO’s feport on mediation on page 8.NACRO SAFER SOCIETY MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 1999 24
BY ANNE DUNNNACRO’S POLICYRESEARCHMANAGER, RACEAND CRIMINALJUSTICE UNITLegislation,Race andCriminal JusticePhoto: Michael GrieveThe fifth HomeOffice ‘Statistics onRace and CriminalJustice’ (HomeOffice, 1998) is themost detailed todate of the series ofreports publishedsince 1992 undersection 95 of theCriminal Justice Act1991. As well asstatistics on policestop and searchpowers – whichshow that, as in theprevious year, blackpeople were onaverage five timesmore likely thanwhites to bestopped andsearched – itincludes a chapteron the developmentof ethnic monitoringsystems in criminaljustice agencies anda helpful breakdownof population byeach police force.There is usefulinformation aboutarrests, cautions,homicides, racialincidents, and thenumbers of minoritystaff working in theagencies concerned.The increasing value of section.95 illustrates the importance of a strong and coherent legislativeframework for ensuring fairness in the criminal justice system. This article gives a brief reviewof the key findings from the 1998 report, and looks at other legislative changes which willbecome increasingly important in the coming years.Of the one million Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) s.1 stop and searches carried out in1997/98, 11% were of black people, compared to 2% in the general population over the age of 10; and5% were of Asians, compared to 3% in the general population. Of the two million arrests, 7% wereblack, and 4% were Asian. Cautioning, however, was used less frequently for black people than forwhite and ‘other’ ethnic groups.As in previous years, the number of people from minority groups in prison remains high: in June 1997,18% of the male and 25% of the female prison population. Even when prisoners from outside the UKare discounted, the proportion remains high: 14% of men and 16% of women from minority groups.61% of the adult black male prison population was serving sentences of over four years, compared to59% of Asians and 47% of white prisoners. Among women, 58% of black prisoners were serving overfour years compared to 31% of white prisoners.This year’s report also compared the prison population with the 10 police force areas with the highestminority populations and concludes that ‘compared with the population, black offenders were five to sixtimes more likely than white offenders to be received into prison’.There was a similar imbalance in the homicide figures, where 9% of the 1,230 murder victims over twoyears from 1996 to 1998 were black, 6% were Asian and 3% were of ‘other’ ethnic origin. There was a6% increase in the number of racial incidents recorded by the police, from 13,151 in 1996/97 to 13,878.At the other end of the picture, as in previous years, black and Asian workers are very much in theminority in the police (2%) and Prison Service (2% of prison officers and governors). In the probationservice and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), there is a higher proportion of minority staff (8%each) but very few at senior levels. There are ‘believed to be’ five minority circuit judges (out of about500) but none at any higher levels of the judiciary. For the first year, four minority justices’ clerks wererecorded.The real importance of s.95 is now becoming more clearly apparent. It is now possible to start looking attrends in, for example, stop and search and arrests; together with other recent research, such as a HomeOffice study on Entry into the Criminal Justice System (Phillips and Brown, 1998), the results confirmlong-standing concerns about the disproportionate use of these powers in minority communities –concerns which must be tackled urgently. Other concerns arising from the 1998 report are as follows. The continued increase in the use of s.1 stop and search powers in general, from 109,800 in 1986when it was first used, to just over one million in 1997/98. In the 10 police areas with the largestminority communities, there has been an increase in all cases except the West Midlands, which hasdecreased its use of the power from 58,401 in 1996/97 to 42,486 in 1997/98.At a time when there is new emphasis on police and local authority partnerships, restorative justiceand intelligence-led policing, the continued high level of use of these powers is surely questionable –particularly as only about 11 or 12% of searches lead to an arrest. The time is right for a thoroughHome Office review of the aim and effectiveness of s.1 of PACE.25 FEBRUARY 1999 SAFER SOCIETY MAGAZINE NACRO
Page 2 and 3: EDITORIALLooking at employment‘A
Page 4 and 5: Safer Society FEATUREReintegrating
Page 6 and 7: Safer Society FEATURE Reintegrating
Page 8 and 9: SAFER SOCIETY NEWS SAFER SOCIETYVul
Page 10 and 11: SAFER SOCIETY NEWS SAFER SOCIETYwel
Page 12 and 13: Criminal Statistics1997Crime ratesI
Page 14 and 15: Tony Blair meetsworkers on the Holl
Page 16 and 17: LOOKING AT EMPLOYMENTEmploying Offe
Page 18 and 19: Safer Society FEATURE Employing Off
Page 20 and 21: Safer Society FEATURE Intermediate
Page 22 and 23: Safer SocietyFEATUREorPhoto: Michae
Page 24 and 25: Unless positive and constructivemea
Page 28 and 29: Safer Society FEATURE Legislation,
Page 30 and 31: ReviewsBYTIM BATEMANPOLICY DEVELOPM

Looking at employment - Nacro

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?