Press release
Press Release CJS007/2003 - Liverpool to pioneer one-stop crime busting centre
10 September 2003
Liverpool is to have the first US style Community Justice Centre in Britain, Home Secretary David Blunkett announced today, as he led his entire ministerial team and senior Home Office Board members on a trail-blazing tour of Merseyside.
An initial £3 million will go into developing the new Community Justice Centre, a joint initiative by the three Criminal Justice Departments, expected to be located in North Liverpool serving the local community as a one-stop crime busting centre, dispensing justice to perpetrators of low-level crime and disorder as well as anti-social behaviour.
The Justice Centre will be closely linked to the local community with faster access to alternatives to custody such as drug treatment, restorative justice and debt counselling. Sentences will take account of the impact crimes have had on victims and the wider community as well rehabilitating the offender.
Home Secretary David Blunkett said:
"Earlier this year I set out our new agenda to tackle anti-social behaviour and called for a fundamental culture change to our society, where we take pride in our communities and challenge those who try to damage them.
"I am pleased to announce that the first Community Justice Centre in Britain is expected be set up in North Liverpool. We are working with local organisations and the local community to identify the precise location for the Centre, the services that it will provide and the community projects that will be run from it.
"The centre will act as focal point for the community's fight against the selfish minority whose loutish and criminal behaviour is impairing their quality of life. It will combine punishment and help by providing services such as drug treatment, family and parenting support and education and training."
The Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs Lord Falconer said:
"Liverpool will have the first of what is hoped will be a series of pilot community justice centres to handle offences and offenders in problem solving ways. They will play a crucial role in the Government's work to put victims first, encouraging witnesses to come forward, and cracking down on petty offending and re-offending.
"I hope the emphasis on tackling individual underlying problems and on giving local people quick and visible pay-back, for the crimes they have suffered, will help to strengthen confidence in the criminal justice system and show that it is there to serve and to respond to the needs of everyone in the community.
"The first pilot in Liverpool will help shape the future development of Community Justice Centres and we will need the help of local people to make sure that we get it right."
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith QC said:
"When I visited New York in July I saw first-hand the difference Red Hook has made to the community. It works because penalties can be tailored to meet the needs of the offender, and are backed up by practical help - from getting off drugs to finding a house and a job
- to help people out of a life of crime.
"Community Justice Centres combine punishment with hands-on support, and have led in the US to a drop in offending and the regeneration of whole neighbourhoods. I have seen how prosecutors play a key role in community justice in the USA. In my vision for the Crown Prosecution Service, prosecutors will play a key role in community justice in
this country too.
"I am delighted that Liverpool, my home town, has been chosen as the pilot, and look forward to working with the people of Merseyside to make this an example of a 21st century justice system."
The Community Justice Centre 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 Home Office team is in Merseyside on a special one-day fact-finding visit to see for themselves how the work of the Home Office is impacting on the local community. The visit, concluding with a discussion event where the ministers will take questions from community representatives, is the first in a series of eight over the next two and a half years, across England and Wales. This new way of working will give ministers invaluable feedback from those at the sharp end, delivering policy on the ground.
Home Secretary David Blunkett said:
"We have chosen Merseyside for the first visit of our entire team because it is an area seeking innovative ways to tackle difficult social problems. The communities here are ensuring that people become part of the solution.
"Home Office policies touch the lives of everyone - whether it is local policing, crime reduction initiatives or immigration. As part of the day, I want to hear from the people of Liverpool about how these policies affect them and their community."
Notes to editors
1. The Community Justice Centre is a joint initiative by the three Criminal Justice Departments - the Home Office, the Department for Constitutional Affairs and the Crown Prosecution Service.
2. The development of pilot Community Justice Centres was outlined in the recent White Paper 'Respect and Responsibility - taking a stand against anti-social behaviour' paragraph 5.26, pg.80. Initial plans were announced on 2 April 2003 when the Home Secretary David Blunkett visited the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in New York (Home Office Press notice 102/2003).
3. The Red Hook court involves community service projects specifically designed to pay back the community harmed by crime and outside agencies to address the underlying problems of defendants. This has led to major reductions in street crime and anti-social behaviour, and has increased public confidence in the criminal justice system.
4. The CJC's are one part of the Government's programme of comprehensive reform of the police and criminal justice system. There are now record numbers of police officers on our streets, falling crime rates, reductions in reoffending and a Criminal Justice Bill and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill currently before Parliament.
5. The Community Justice Centre 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.
6. 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.
7. Full details of the location and services of the pilot CJC in Liverpool will be announced by the end of the year.