Restorative Justice Services

The Angus Restorative Justice Service has been actively supporting young offenders and the victims of youth crime since September 2002.

The project takes referrals from the Children’s Reporter, Local Multi-Agency Resource Team (LMART) and Angus Council Social Work Department. We work with young people between the ages of 11-17 with the aim of reducing re-offending and allowing young people to make amends for their crime through the use of Mediation and Reparation.

This method also allows victims of youth crime to take part in the process, having a say as to how the offence has impacted on them, and identify how the young person may be able to make amends. Work undertaken with these young people includes the completion of a tailor made Awareness Raising Programme.

Case Study

AB (12years old) was referred to the Service by the Children’s Reporter on account of two charges – Theft by Housebreaking (Church Hall) and Theft by Opening a Lockfast Place.

An awareness raising programme was undertaken with this young person that looked at his offending in detail, triggers, peer influences, decision making, consequences and ways of keeping himself out of trouble in the future. We also focussed on how the victims were affected by his actions to reinforce the wider impact of his offending.

The young person was co-operative and motivated throughout our work that lasted approximately 2 months and at the end of our work he participated in face-to-face meetings with both of his victims and apologised for the harm he had caused. The library asked him to help sort books out for an evening as a way of making amends and he did this alongside the Project Worker.