Immediate Justice (IJ) is an opportunity for offenders to repay victims and the community for their behaviour. It is also a chance for them to understand how their actions can impact others, and help offenders move away from further offending and not get involved in the Criminal Justice System in the future.
There are two different conditions that can be imposed as part of Immediate Justice, and offenders may get one condition or both:
- Unpaid Work (UPW) – depending on the disposal issued by West Yorkshire Police, you will need to attend either 1 day (7 hours) or 2 days (14 hours) UPW.
- Anti-Social Behaviour Course (ASB Course) – offenders will be required to attend a 2 hour course which will look at ASB and the impact it has on victims, communities and themselves.
The Immediate Justice Pilot Project has 2 Victim Support Caseworkers whose purpose is to provide specialist help and services, to support victims and help them cope and recover until they feel they are back on track with their life.
We work with them in a way that makes sure their needs are met and to ensure their voice is heard throughout their support and beyond.
In addition to this, we work in partnership with Restorative Solutions to provide ASB Awareness Courses to offenders who meet criteria and are referred accordingly. The idea of these courses is to educate offenders and largely focus on:
- What is ASB?
- How does their offence fit within ASB?
- What is the impact ASB has on victims, communities and themselves?
Throughout the session, there are various slides to prompt thoughts and discussions between the facilitators and offenders.
Groups can vary in size but are to be no more than 10.
It’s important for the offenders to recognize how their behaviour fits within the ASB umbrella and Victim Support contributes in a way to show how victims are affected.
