Youth Justice - information for victims
We will tell you about the court process and what sentencing options will be available to the court. If the young person has already been sentenced, we can tell you about the requirements of that order are for the young person.
The Victim Liaison Officer can act as an intermediary if:
-
you would like to make a statement about how the offence has affected you and your family
-
you have questions that you would like the young person to answer.
If you do not want the young person to know that the questions have come from you, we can do this anonymously.
If the young person receives a custodial sentence and you have concerns about what may happen when they are released, we will talk through these concerns with you and we may be able to recommend conditions to be put on their release licences that will address those concerns.
Read our pledge to support victims of crime.
Meeting the young offender
If you want to, you may be able to meet the young person who committed the offence. This can happen in one of two ways.
Referral Orders
When a young person is sentenced to a Referral Order they must attend a panel run by trained community volunteers. The volunteers will negotiate an agreement with the young person and their parents / carer outlining what he or she will have to do over the course of the order.
As the victim you have a right to attend and influence the agreement. The panels are held at the Youth Justice Service and are usually in the early evening.
As part of the meeting you may be asked if the young person can do anything for you to help repair the harm caused. This may be direct work for you or we have a list of community projects that the young people can do instead.
Restorative meeting
These meetings are held when people affected by an offence choose to meet the young offender (and their parents / carers) to talk about what has happened, how it has affected everyone and what needs to happen next to help put things right.