Press Release
20 October 2006
LIVERPOOL’S PIONEERING COMMUNITY COURT COMES OF AGE
England’s first community justice centre celebrates its first anniversary this week.
The community justice centre in north Liverpool tackles anti-social behaviour and the crime associated with it. The local community plays a large part in how the centre is run, saying which crime affects local people most or by suggesting unpaid jobs for offenders.
In the first eight months of this year, the centre, led by Judge David Fletcher, heard over 1,100 adult cases, and more than 300 youth cases. Of these, 10 per cent of adult hearings resulted in custodial sentences, 17 per cent involving youths. In the same period, the centre ordered 3,231 hours of unpaid work – that’s nearly 135 days unpaid work done by offenders in north Liverpool.
Constitutional Affairs minister Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP said the centre had been a boon to the community from the start by targeting crimes that affected it most.
Harriet Harman said community justice, which brings communities and crime fighters together to decide local priorities, had been so successful in north Liverpool and in a similar project in Salford that the Government is to extend the idea to 10 other areas.
The key elements successfully piloted in Liverpool and Salford have been brought together to form a basis for the 10 new projects. I will be making a statement outlining these elements next week.
The roll out of community justice is also closely linked to the Government’s RESPECT agenda, working with communities to give them the tools to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhoods.
Ms Harman said:
“I congratulate Judge David Fletcher and his team for steering the centre from its infancy, when few people understood how it could possibly change their lives, to today when the centre is a big part of life in the area.
“Community justice is about bringing justice closer to the people by tackling offences and anti social behaviour that make life a misery in a neighbourhood, and the north Liverpool team have shown this.
“Targeting the priorities of a neighbourhood for low level crime, instead of using the one size fits all method, means that the community’s needs are met and justice is served.
“Following north Liverpool’s success, we plan to set up 10 new community justice initiatives so that more people can benefit from what is clearly a winning formula.”
Notes to Editors
1. The Community Justice Centre, North Liverpool, is a pioneering initiative aimed at bringing justice closer to the community. It is the first of its kind in England and Wales
2. The centre, based on Boundary Street, Kirkdale, works with local residents to tackle crimes and anti-social behaviour, which affects the quality of life of residents in the local authority wards of Anfield, County, Everton and Kirkdale.
3. It provides access to a range of support services for those living and working in the area as well as enabling residents to identify their priorities for the work of the centre and the services it provides.
Media enquiries should be directed to Kathryn Montague, Peter O’Connor or Lisa Brett in the Department for Constitutional Affairs Press Office. Tel: 020 7210 1397, 8913 or 8722.
ENDS