Criminal Justice Centres (Hansard, 24 July 2002)

§ Mr. Plaskitt
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how criminal justice centres will assist in the processing of cases. [65337]

§ Mr. Hilary Benn
[holding answer 9 July 2002]: Two innovative and integrated Criminal Justice Centres are being developed in Warwickshire. The Centres will speed up justice, give a better service to victims, witnesses and defendants and help in the local efforts to reduce crime and improve public safety by co-locating all of the county's criminal justice agencies.
Practitioners from the courts, Crown Prosecution Service, police, Probation Service and Youth Offending Teams will be working together with the National Health Service and voluntary organisations to create new partnership arrangements and modernise the existing single agency approaches. The Centres will deliver joined-up justice through improved business processes and Information Technology systems. This innovative approach will improve the quality and timeliness of prosecutions which should speed up the processing of cases.
Victims and witnesses will receive a better service through the new integrated Centres by receiving help and support at all stages of the justice process, especially while they are at court. Cases will be dealt with faster and more efficiently, so the stress of their involvement should also be reduced.
The project in Warwickshire is being reviewed as it progresses, so that the lessons learned can he applied quickly. This will allow us to examine the benefits of 1531W co-locating of all local criminal justice agencies and whether to extend this approach to other criminal justice system areas.

Mr. Matins
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the re-offending rate of those leaving young offenders institutions was in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [68630]

§ Mr. Hilary Benn
[holding answer 9 July 2002]: Re-offending rates are not normally measured as they rely on the self-reporting of offending by offenders.
The Home Office does however keep information on reconviction rates. In relation to those leaving Her Majesty's Prison Young Offender Institutions during 1997, before the youth justice reforms took effect, 76 per cent. of male young offenders and 58 per cent. of female young offenders were reconvicted within two years of release from custody during 1997.
Reconviction rates for those sentenced in July 2000, shortly after the new Detention and Training Order was introduced, are due in early 2003. Meanwhile, for those juveniles receiving non-custodial sentences in July 2000, we achieved a 14.6 per cent. reduction against the predicted reconviction rate was achieved.