Case Study - St. Helens  Offenders clean up alleyways – and clean up their actSt Helens has around 500 unadopted alleyways, which the council has no duty to maintain. Used as dens for anti-social behavior and subject to fly-tipping – not surprisingly, there were complaints from residents. So, the Restorative Justice scheme was the perfect opportunity to clean up. The Restorative Justice system is a national programme that aims to prevent reoffending by helping young people to understand the effects of crime on the victim and to make amends to both victim and community. Environmental Care Services can now justify the scheme – and further funding – not least because of the reduction in complaints from council tax payers. Residents and councillors are thrilled with the scheme. Assessing the alleys The scheme began when the Youth Offending Team contacted Environmental Care Services at the council looking for interesting projects for young offenders to work on. The programme involved identifying, assessing and photographing the alleys that needed a clean up. Letters were then sent to the local residents responsible for the alleyways to let them know when and where the clean up would take place and inviting them to join in.
The team works from Tuesday to Saturday. Moved a tonne of materials So far, by working together, the young people, reparation workers and residents have moved a tonne of bricks, rubble, tyres, glass and overgrown vegetation. Residents now say they feel more secure as they can see all the way down the alleys. The project has seven partners who can be called upon to provide materials and other services.
From being on the Youth Referral Panel, Pam has gained an understanding that the youths may have a lot of problems and suffer from low self-esteem. Working with kids with a short attention span means you have to be flexible and dynamic. Health and safety Strict health and safety regulations are taken into account, preventing the teenagers from taking part in some activities, and parents or carers must always give their consent to the work. Pam always starts out operating and only later makes strategies into policy – if they work out. The nature of the programme means that no rigid strategies can be set. A third stage Rather than simply being a clean up, the project introduced a third stage. Young people were invited to an informal session, shown a short presentation and invited to join in a discussion. This touched on the fact that, though they had committed an offence, people in the wider community were also committing an offence if they dumped rubbish. The young people decided to form a group to educate residents. They designed a leaflet, including quotes from people working on the alleyways, and had it printed by the council. They then delivered the leaflets themselves. Educational possibilities The next step for the project will be to extend its educational possibilities. Environmental Care Services has identified gaps in the knowledge of youth workers, outreach workers, community support officers and others working with youths. At the moment, there are no materials that address anti-social behaviour and enviro-crime. The team would like to create resources and a training package for the project’s partners, believing that education – before enforcement – has the power to change behaviours. It has taken the partnership team three years to get to this stage, so Pam suggests the educational project will take until 2008 before she knows whether the scheme is worthwhile. For more information, please contact Pamela Cunningham at pamelacunningham@sthelens.gov.uk |
