Volunteering for the YOT

Referral Order Panels which are made up of volunteers from the community, help decide the future of young offenders. Their decisions are based on the principles of Restorative Justice:-

• Responsibility - The young person is encouraged to take responsibility for what they have done.
• Reintegration - The panel looks at ways to address the young persons offending behaviour.
• Reparation - Repairing the harm caused by the young persons actions. Reparation is either direct to the victim or to the community as a whole.

Panel members are like you, just every day members of the community who care about others. They get full training and ongoing support and need to be 18 years or over.

Currently 67% of young people who have attended these Panels have not re-offended.

The Panel consists of two Community Panel Members (volunteers) who are recruited and trained by the Wessex Youth Offending Team (YOT), and a YOT member as an adviser. Other people can be invited to attend the panel if they can be helpful to the process, e.g teacher, social worker, family member or other relatives. We are always looking for new volunteers to become Panel Members or to work with Rainer in supervising placements.

Referral Order

Referral Orders are the primary sentencing option for Magistrates dealing with young offenders who plead guilty for the first time in a youth court, unless they receive a custodial  sentence, a hospital order or an absolute discharge.

The court decide the length of the order (3-12 months) and the young offender then appears before a Community Panel where they agree a contract. This contains reparation to the victim and/or the community and a programme of interventions which are wide ranging and can include work on anger management, substance misuse, driver awareness, a requirement for them to attend school, not frequent places or premises or associate with specified individuals. It could also include behaviour clauses and on occasions we have included curfews.

Victims are very important in this process and are invited to attend the panel. They can ask questions and comment on how the crime has affected them.

Anything that goes into a contract must be reasonable and s negotiated with the Young Offender. Reparation is supervised by Rainer and could be something that the victim wants and can be direct or indirect or some work in the community. We are always seeking new projects.

The carrot for the young offender is that if the contract is completed the conviction is "spent" under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which can be useful when applying for employment.

If the Young Offender does not agree a contract, refuses to sign without good reason or fails to comply with it the YOT will hold a review panel and the panel members can send the young offender back to court if there is no chance of future compliance.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please contact any of our area offices for future details.

Example of a Referral Order

We all make mistakes, some of us are given more opportunities and some of us experience very hard times. What can we do about it? We can lend a hand to help each other. Take the case of Robert who was 16yrs of age.

Roberts difficult childhood, losing his father when he was only ten years old, and having to cope with life on his own, contributed to him becoming a very angry young man and was often in trouble at school resulting in many exclusions.

He had recently been arrested for a serious assault which resulted in him being given a six month referral order by the youth court. He was associating with some young people who encouraged him to take drugs. Recently Robert had been in hospital having been found unconscious through drink and drugs.

Robert attended a Referral Order Panel where a report had been prepared for the panel members. Robert agreed a contract with the panel which included the reparation, anger management, a course to address and career prospects. At the end of the contract, he had changed his attitude to drugs, drank a lot less and had engaged in a college course to learn bricklaying.

The Panel had helped him realize that he was an important member of their community but his behaviour had been unacceptable. They were not their to punish him but to help him gain opportunities, to make better choices and become a responsible citizen.

If you can help tackle youth crime in your local area of Hampshire or Isle of Wight, contact your local Community Intervention Manager on our contact us page.