What we do
The local community justice partnership is a strategic partnership working in collaboration to:
- prevent and reduce further offending by addressing its underlying causes; and
- work together to help safely and effectively manage and support those who have committed offences to enable them reintegrate effectively into their community and realise their potential for the benefit of all.
When people think about justice they often think about criminal justice, police, courts and prisons, but Community Justice is much wider than this and involves us all, including victims of crime, those who commit offences and the families of both.
We know that many things can impact on the way people behave and on their communities including education (schools and further education), employment services and jobs, health, income, housing and lots of third sector/voluntary organisations.
The most important thing that influences people are their families and the communities within which they live.
The justice system is very complicated, with different options available at each stage of the journey. There are lots of decisions to be made from the point of arrest to the decision to charge, whether to proceed to court or divert and what type of sentence to give. Yet there are lots of things we as communities can and could do before people even get to the stage of formal involvement in the system.
Strong, connected communities working together can have a much greater effect on the lives of people than services alone ever could.
Under the old model for community justice Dumfries and Galloway was part of South West Scotland Community Justice Authority, alongside North, South and East Ayrshire. The new local model was established under the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 with a much greater focus on local delivery and partnership working in Dumfries and Galloway.
Who are our partners
Our statutory partners nationally and locally under this model are:
- Dumfries & Galloway Council
- NHS Dumfries and Galloway
- Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
- Police Scotland
- Skills Development Scotland
Integrated Joint Board - Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service
- Scottish Prison Service
- Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service
We also have people from the third/voluntary sector on our Partnership, locally this includes:
Other third sector partners are invited and welcome to get involved to deliver targeted pieces of work.
We also work with the homeless team, education, Department of Work and Pensions, criminal justice and children and families social work. This multi agency approach helps us to reach our goals as a partnership and everyone brings something different; they also have different relationships with those they work with whilst also often working with exactly the same people!