Inside Justice Week: Day one - the people involved
Inside Justice Week is a major public campaign aimed at opening up the criminal justice system to the public.
Inside Justice Week is a major public campaign aimed at opening up the criminal justice system to the public. It's about explaining how the system works and giving people the chance to look behind the scenes. The theme for this year's campaign is Justice For All. Throughout this week, The Evening Telegraph, working alongside the Cambridgeshire
Criminal Justice Board and Her Majesty's Courts Service, will be giving readers a chance to see how justice is done locally – and to take part in local justice. Asha Mehta reports:
Peterborough's criminal courts play a crucial role in delivering justice, with some of the hardest decisions our society makes taking place there.
Was someone guilty of committing a crime, should they be sent to prison, be fined or serve a community sentence?
Her Majesty's Courts Service (HMCS) manages criminal and civil courts throughout England and Wales.
In this area, most criminal cases are heard at Peterborough Magistrates' Court, in Bridge Street.
Cases range from alleged driving offences to theft, assault and anti-social behaviour.
Peterborough Magistrates' Court has six courtrooms, six two-person cells and two larger cells. There are 119 magistrates.
Magistrates sit on a bench of three, and are accompanied in court by a trained legal advisor to give guidance on the law and sentencing options.
More serious cases, such as those dealing with allegations of murder, or rape are heard at Peterborough Crown Court, which is housed in the Combined Courts Centre, in Rivergate.
Peterborough Crown Court has two courtrooms and four holding cells, each of which holds up to six defendants.
There are two regular judges at this court.
The Cambridgeshire Criminal Justice Board (CCJB) brings together all of the county's criminal justice agencies.
The CCJB is made up of chief officers from Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the Probation Service, courts, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Youth Offending Teams, prisons, Legal Services Commission and Victim Support.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary is responsible for policing throughout the county, covering about 1,316 square miles of the East of England region.
For policing purposes, the county is divided into three divisions.
Northern division covers Peterborough, while Central division encompasses Huntingdonshire and Fenland. The rest of the county makes up Southern division.
Each area has a Neighbourhood Policing Team, which works with residents to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Cambridgeshire Probation Area is one of 42 probation areas throughout England and Wales.
The justice agency supervises offenders in the community, such as those carrying out community payback (unpaid work).
Its aims are to protect the public, reduce re-offending, ensure offenders are punished and rehabilitated and make lawbreakers aware of the effects of crime.
The Probation Service employs 280 staff throughout Cambridgeshire. Each day they supervise more than 2,000 adult offenders. Seventy per cent of clients are serving community orders, the rest are on licence from prison.
Criminal trials usually take place in open court – which means that members of the press and public are allowed to hear proceedings.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the Government department responsible for prosecuting criminal cases investigated by the police.
The decision whether or not to prosecute is based on two tests.
Prosecutors must first decide if there's enough evidence for the case to stand up in court.
Then they must decide if it's in the public interest to prosecute. The overall aim of the CPS is to deliver a high-quality prosecution service that brings offenders to justice and helps reduce both crime and the fear of crime.The Peterborough Youth Offending Service aims to prevent youth crime, working in partnership with the probation, police, health and education services.
It's responsible for supervising and implementing orders imposed by the Youth Court and preparing pre-sentence reports, which magistrates use when considering which sentences to give to young people who've committed a crime.
The Youth Offending Service provides a range of services to support young people involved in the justice system and their parents. Its staff work with partner agencies to identify and help at risk children, young people and their families.
It also delivers restorative justice to help victims have a voice in the outcomes of youth justice and supervises young people on licence in the community following a custodial sentence.
The Prison Service serves the public by keeping in custody those committed there by the courts. Its duty is to look after them with humanity and help them lead law-abiding and useful lives in custody and after release.
There are three prisons in Cambridgeshire, operating under Her Majesty's Prison Service.
Of those, two are public sector prisons, namely HMP Littlehey and HMP Whitemoor.
The third prison, which is privately-run, is HMP Peterborough. It's the country's only dual-purpose prison, housing both male and female prisoners.
Victim Support is an independent charity for people affected by crime – victims and witnesses, their families and friends.
Each year Victim Support receives 16,000 referrals in Cambridgeshire alone.
The national charity has offices in Peterborough, Huntingdon and Cambridge, each manned by teams of trained volunteers, who provide support on the phone.
Cambridgeshire is one of the first areas in England and Wales to provide Victim Support Plus, an enhanced service for victims, operating from 8am to 8pm.
Under the scheme, volunteers telephone each victim who has been referred to Victim Support.
Victim Support also provides a witness service in every criminal court in the county, where trained volunteers offer support to witnesses.
Elsewhere online:
Inside Justice Week, 18-25 October 2008.
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Thursday 29 July 2010
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