£375k for West Midlands victims to meet criminals
Nearly £400,000 is to be spent on projects that see criminals come face-to-face with their victims.
Grants totalling £375,000 will be available to organisations that work with victims in so-called 'restorative justice' schemes.
The schemes allow victims, if they want to, to face their offender, and explain how the crime has affected them.
It also gives criminals the opportunity to 'make amends' for their crimes by apologising, returning stolen money or items, or undertaking community service.
The cash has been given to the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson to dish out to organisations to run the service.
Mr Jamieson said: "Restorative justice can make a massive difference to victims of crime. Although you can never truly turn back the clock when a crime has occurred, restorative justice can go a long way to helping victims come to terms with what has happened and challenges offenders to rethink their behaviour. Such meetings only happen when they are requested by the victim and they are deemed safe to go ahead.
"Across the West Midlands we already have some excellent groups who help facilitate the process. This new funding will help even more victims to access this support so that they can hopefully obtain closure and move on with their lives."
Ahead of the launch of the new initiative, the Police and Crime Commissioner visited Midland Heart housing association, one of the first recipients of a restorative justice grant, to see how the money has made a difference to residents.
Restorative justice has been funded by the commissioner since 2013 when funding was transferred over from the Ministry of Justice.
Midland Heart has already run a pilot project with a previous £65,000 grant. As a result, the housing and care association has offered support to a number of its residents and since the introduction of the initiative, the association says it has seen a significant drop in crime such as anti-social behaviour.
Nigel Collumbell, head of neighbourhoods at Midland Heart said: "The restorative justice project has been a great opportunity to work with our partners to resolve issues of low-level crime and antisocial behaviour much earlier on, preventing neighbours from becoming embroiled in bigger conflicts.
"We would highly recommend this approach to others as it fosters better community relations and changes the way neighbours interact with each other. This is a great example of the added value that housing associations can bring."
The initiative often involves a victim meeting their offender face-to-face. Sometimes, when a face to face meeting is not the best way forward, the victim and offender will communicate via letters, recorded interviews or video instead.
Before a meeting can take place the offender must accept responsibility for the crime. Both the victim and the offender must be willing to participate and it must be decided it is safe for both the victim and offender to be involved in the process.
The deadline for funding applications is December 31.
For more information call 0121 626 6060
