Children and young people

A Reparation Order is intended to prevent an offender from continuing to offend by helping them to understand the effects of crime on the victim(s) and how to make amends. It is a sentence of the court and is supervised by a member of the Youth Offending Team.

What does an offender have to do?

The court orders them to complete a programme of reparation within the next three months and for a maximum of 24 hours.

A member of the Youth Offending Team will arrange to meet them in order to explain the details of the programme.

They may be asked to:

• attend some group sessions to hear about the effect that crime can have on victims and the community;
• write a letter to apologise;
• meet the victim, if he or she so wishes, so that they can apologise in person;
• carry out some practical work for the victim or the community.

What are the rules?

They must:

• keep all the appointments given to them by their Youth Offending Team Officer;
• tell their officer if they change address;
• allow their officer to see them at home when required;
• complete the actions that are set out for them in their Reparation Plan Programme.

What happens if they do not keep to the rules?

• Their officer will ask them for an explanation and decide if their reason is acceptable or not.
• If they fail to keep more than two appointments without an acceptable reason, they will be taken back to court.

What happens if they do not co-operate?

They will be returned to the court, which may:

• tell them to complete the order;
• fine them up to £1,000;
• impose an Attendance Centre Order;
• discharge the order and sentence them in a different way for the original offence;
• commit them back to the Crown Court for re-sentencing, if their Reparation Order was made in the Crown Court.

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