North Liverpool Community Justice Centre (NLCJC)

[Kev]

Centre gives out 'speedy justice'


Judge David Fletcher presides over the court

A government project designed to combat anti-social behaviour is "exceeding targets" a new report says.

The North Liverpool Community Justice Centre (NLCJC) has been dealing with cases almost six times faster than the national average.

But the survey, commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, also said that the public had a "drop in confidence" in the system since the court began.

Eleven community justice projects are being developed across the UK.

The £4.2m centre was opened two years ago, based on a similar model in New York.

Key features of the community justice centre include a hands-on approach by judges who see the same offenders regularly to check on compliance with punishments or orders.

A survey found 64% of local people said they lacked confidence in the criminal justice system since the court began, compared to 62% before it started.

Re-offender rates

But the report said the way the centre was reported in the media could be to blame for this shift in perception and the centre may have actually prevented a sharper decline in the north Liverpool area.

It is thought that re-offending rates of criminals through its court will be examined in 2008, but that indications from staff and individual case studies showed some crime reduction.

The time taken from first hearing to sentence is 26 days on average at the NLCJC compared with a national average of 147 days, and a national target of 112 days.

Eleven other community justice projects are currently being developed for Bradford, Devon and Cornwall, Hull, Leicestershire, Merthyr Tydfil, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, Nottingham and in three areas of London.

BBC Liverpool

[Kev]

Any comments from our brothers and sisters in the North end? Has it made a positive impact on the area? Are the justice centres a good/ bad thing?

[Ged]

It's on the Scottie Press's doorstep - they welcome it. It's in the old St. Gerard's school.

[Kev]

A PIONEERING £3m fast-track “justice centre” in north Liverpool has failed to improve the crime-racked community, local people believe. Read

[charley chester]

As a resident of the area, in my opinion the centre has had no affect on the area. It is as bad if not worse than ever. The police patrol infrequently in their cars and vans. However I have not seen a beat bobby for years. We are not that far from St. Anne Street yet we seem to have been forgotten. A couple of months ago I witnessed a police officer sitting in his patrol car searching one of the local youths. He did this by winding down his window and patting down the youth. As he was sitting down he only managed to search the top half of the boy, if he had a couple of guns tucked into his socks he was in no danger of being found out. Stolen cars are more regular visitors than the police and motor bikes regularly do circuits of the local streets until the early hours. All in, a wonderful place to live.

[Ged]

Fewer people would now be prepared to act as a witness, mainly because of fear of retaliation by offenders and because "it would make no difference".

This is the d-amning sentence really. If those prosecuted weren't just slapped on the wrist (no fear of prison because they're all full of course) and let back out on the streets within hours to initiate their restribution, maybe things would change. A better system would be police actually catching these criminals or racing to a situation if the police station or crimestoppers were called instead of relying on frightened witnesses who then have to continue living in the area with the thugs and their families who then label them a grass and worse.

[lindylou]

As a resident of the area, in my opinion the centre has had no affect on the area. It is as bad if not worse than ever. The police patrol infrequently in their cars and vans. However I have not seen a beat bobby for years. We are not that far from St. Anne Street yet we seem to have been forgotten. A couple of months ago I witnessed a police officer sitting in his patrol car searching one of the local youths. He did this by winding down his window and patting down the youth. As he was sitting down he only managed to search the top half of the boy, if he had a couple of guns tucked into his socks he was in no danger of being found out. Stolen cars are more regular visitors than the police and motor bikes regularly do circuits of the local streets until the early hours. All in, a wonderful place to live.

sounds like where I live in Anfield. Although just lately there have been one or two sightings of police. I saw two of them on foot before, and I mentioned to them the fact that there are 3 or 4 cars parked everyday on a local shopping road - and I mean parked full four wheels on the pavement. I was in a shop there the other day and was amazed to see a car reverse quite a few feet past the shop window - the shop keeper told me it is a frequent occurence, and since then I have noticed that there are cars parked full on that pavement all the time - shoppers having to walk around them. Where are the police or traffic wardens ??
I supose it will take a car to back into someone before anyone takes notice - or a child running out of one of the shops and under the wheels.
I mentioned this to the two passing policmen and was told that they were not from that side of the boundary and I should ring the council

[Libertarian]

North Liverpool is in a mess. Years ago parts of the north end like Anfield and Walton were desirable places to live. However, neglect has been the main problem. Once you get a street with houses boarded up in it snowballs and more properties are left unused. The best thing the council did was to make people who own empty properties pay full council tax on them.

I am not having a go at the people in the north either because I am one of them. The north end has lovely friendly communities, but it has got to be accepted that there are problems and in my view it needs serious government intervention and cash to solve these problems.

[SteH]

I mentioned this to the two passing policmen and was told that they were not from that side of the boundary and I should ring the council

It makes you wonder what would happen if the two policemen were stood on one side of the road and saw a burglary taking place on the other side ie across the boundary
The police dont have any parking enforcement powers now its the council but their wardens are too busy booking people for overstaying by one minute in the city centre parking bays. Its amazing how many cars - usually 4x4s that I see blocking pavements and parked **** inconsiderably but not getting brought to task.

[lindylou]

For local police, Anfield is either under Walton lane or Tuebrook - depending on which side of the boundary you are.

[lindylou]

North Liverpool is in a mess. Years ago parts of the north end like Anfield and Walton were desirable places to live. However, neglect has been the main problem. Once you get a street with houses boarded up in it snowballs and more properties are left unused. The best thing the council did was to make people who own empty properties pay full council tax on them.

I am not having a go at the people in the north either because I am one of them. The north end has lovely friendly communities, but it has got to be accepted that there are problems and in my view it needs serious government intervention and cash to solve these problems.

My grandmother told me how Anfield was once a desirable area.
You only have to look at what is left of the lovely big houses - some I have mentioned in other threads. ie; the villas around Breckside park, Anfield rd, and there was, and still is a lot of green space.
These houses were once the dwellings of the professional classes.
Our house still had maid's bells on the wall - I believe solicitors lived in our house in days gone by, and other neighbours were dentists and business people.
How sad to see the area turn so neglected and scruffy.
There are few 'decent' residents remaining, and all the problems from other areas have been dumped here - you name it and we got it.

[SteH]

For local police, Anfield is either under Walton lane or Tuebrook - depending on which side of the boundary you are.

The boundary being Townsend Lane I believe, as they tend to run along council ward lines.

[SteH]

My grandmother told me how Anfield was once a desirable area.
You only have to look at what is left of the lovely big houses - some I have mentioned in other threads. ie; the villas around Breckside park, Anfield rd, and there was, and still is a lot of green space.
These houses were once the dwellings of the professional classes.
Our house still had maid's bells on the wall - I believe solicitors lived in our house in days gone by, and other neighbours were dentists and business people.
How sad to see the area turn so neglected and scruffy.
There are few 'decent' residents remaining, and all the problems from other area have been dumped here - you name it and we got it.

What you describe Lindy is epitomised by the Rockfield estate - Rockfield Road, Tancred Road, Sybil Road, Coningsby Road - huge houses but so many are now boarded up or inhabited by undesirables. Its heartbreaking.

http://www.liverpoolandmerseysideima...o_1289531.html

[Howie]

May 18, 2009
Plans for US-style community courts scrapped because of lack of cash
Frances Gibb, Legal Editor

Plans to create American-style community justice courts in which judges engage directly with offenders and take charge of their rehabilitation have been dropped.

Three years after the Government outlined proposals for a nationwide network of community courts, ministers have admitted that there is no money to fund them.

Instead, it is to look at cheaper options, including ?virtual problem solving? by agencies who would advise on offenders? treatment.

The community courts, involving a hands-on approach by judges who monitor the progress of offenders, would have been modelled on successful centres in Liverpool and Salford. Based on the Red Hook Community Justice Centre in New York, these courts use a multi-agency approach, referring offenders on the spot to professionals who deal with their specific problems, from housing to addiction. They also involve the local community, seeking their views on particular problems and on appropriate punishment. But the Liverpool court, for instance, cost ?5.2 million to set up and costs ?1.8 million a year to run.

Tucked away in the recent Green Paper on Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice, ministers say: ?In light of the costs involved, we have ruled out as an immediate option the creation of new, purpose-built centres like the North Liverpool Community Justice Centre.

?It continues to be an extremely valuable and successful test bed for the community justice approach as a whole, but we do not believe that the costs involved in building new centres can be justified at present.?

Instead, it proposes to test other models, based on existing magistrates? courts, involving multi-agency working and ?virtual problem-solving teams?. Repeat offenders would go before the same judge, or magistrates, who would review their progress.

The Green Paper also proposes that local people will have a say in selecting judges and in how crimes in their area are prosecuted.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney-General, said that involving the community in the selection of district judges had proved a success in Liverpool.

It could increase people?s confidence in the way that judges were chosen and strengthen links between local judges and the residents served by their courts, she said.

Source: Times Online