Criminal Justice System
Liverpool to pioneer one-stop crime busting centre
The first US style Community Justice Centre in Britain is to be located in Liverpool, Home Secretary David Blunkett has announced whilst on a tour of Merseyside. The Centre reflects the increased importance of community involvement and community-based policing.
The new Community Justice Centre (CJC) will receive an initial £3 million for development, and is a joint initiative by the three Criminal Justice Departments: the Home Office, the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Expected to be located in North Liverpool, it will serve the local community as a one-stop crime busting centre, dispensing justice to anti-social behaviour and perpetrators of low-level crime.
The Justice Centre will be closely linked to the local community, with faster access to custody alternatives such as:
drug treatment
restorative justice
debt counselling.
Sentences will account for the impact had on crime victims and the wider community, as well rehabilitating the offender.
The CJC is likely to occupy a restored derelict building in the heart of the community. The Centre will act as a hub for crime prevention information, advice and guidance, and will be the base from which activities such as community projects and diversionary activities for young people will be run.
The CJC will have a courtroom around which criminal justice agencies and social services, such as drug treatment, training and mediation, will be based to ensure that offenders have quick and easy access to the support needed to get them back on track.
The key aims of the pilot CJC will be to:
improve the co-ordination of work aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour and the links between criminal justice and other agencies, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their work;
tailor punishments to reflect an individual's and the local community's needs and design rehabilitation schemes to reduce re-offending and engage the perpetrator with their own community;
increase community participation and confidence in criminal justice; and
provide more resolutions through reparation and restoration to cases that are relevant to the damage done to the community as well as the individual.
Last update: Tuesday, September 26, 2006