Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group

Youth Justice Aberdeen Annual Report 2003/2004

Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group Newsletter - May 2005

Background to the Youth Justice Strategy

In 2000, the Scottish Cabinet published a review of youth crime in a report entitled ‘It’s a Criminal Waste – Stop Youth Crime Now’. This report set out the framework for developing a national strategy to tackle offending behaviour among children and young people, and in 2002 was developed into the ‘National Standards for Scotland’s Youth Justice Services’.

These standards, to be implemented in every Local Authority area, focus on developing a wider range of interventions to tackle offending by young people, and improving the effectiveness of the current Children’s Hearing System. Specifically, all Local Authorities have been given the responsibility of reducing the number of persistent young offenders¹ by 10% by 2006 and, in order to address the Standards, each area has formed an inter-agency Youth Justice Strategy Group to take forward the Executive’s recommendations.

The Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group

In response to these developments, Aberdeen established a multi-agency group to consider youth justice issues and needs for the area, and to oversee the development of local strategies to meet those needs.

The overall aim of the Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group is to reduce the level of offending by children and young people in Aberdeen and, in doing so, both improve community safety and ensure better outcomes for children and young people engaged in offending behaviour.

In addition, an Operational Youth Justice Services Team has been established to co-ordinate effective liaison with all agencies involved in youth justice, to ensure the work of these agencies is informed and complementary, and to improve links with diversionary opportunities.

The key tasks for the Strategy Group are to:

• reduce the level of persistent offending,
• divert children and young people away from offending and to support them in making positive choices for their future,
• ensure victims play a central role in the process of youth justice,
• increase community confidence in Scotland’s system of youth justice.

For further information about the Aberdeen Youth Justice Strategy Group, contact Kay Geddes, Youth Justice Co-ordinator, on 01224 569962, kgeddes@aberdeen.sacro.org.uk

¹ A persistent young offender is defined as a young person aged between 8 and 17 years old, inclusive, who is referred to the Children’s Reporter (or jointly to the Procurator Fiscal) on offence grounds five or more times in a period of six months.