At YMCA Trinity Group, we believe in the power of repairing the harm caused by wrongdoing. Reparation is about making amends and taking responsibility for actions that have caused harm.
A young person, between the ages of 10-18 years, may receive a reparation order from a youth court. Depending on the type of offense, and their history of offending, this can take the form of:
- Standard order – requiring 5-30 hours of community work.
- Conditional caution – issued by the Police and allocated to first time offenders and requires 5-15 hours of community work.
- Unpaid work order – allocated to repeat offenders between 16-17 and requires 40-240 hours of work- experience based activities.
Through reparation, young offenders can apologise for their behaviour by giving something back to their communities.
Please scroll further down the page to read more about our work.
Our Aims
Commissioned by the Cambridgeshire County Council Youth Offending Service, the primary aims of our Reparation Service are to:
- Offer locally based opportunities that enable young offenders to engage with their community in a positive and meaningful way.
- Consider the diverse needs of young people in delivering activities that provide them with personal challenges and new learning opportunities.
- Consider the needs of victims and communities and ensure that activities raise young people’s awareness of the impact of their behaviour.
Our Work
We currently work at ten different activity venues across Cambridgeshire. We offer young people the opportunity to engage in a diverse range of activities, such as woodworking skills sessions, gardening, and painting and decorating in a range of settings, such as schools, churches and supported housing. The goal is to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.
In an average month, our Reparation Service will:
- Work with up to 33 young people between the ages of 10-18.
- Receive 22 new young people referrals.
- Help 18 young people complete their order.
- Complete work at different activity venues across the county, scheduling 42 sessions of reparation.
Our Success
Our Reparation Service has been successfully helping young people change their behaviour and prevent further crime. According to our statistics:
- 84% of clients stated that it made them think about their offense.
- 73% of clients stated that it prevented them from committing further crime.
- 65% of clients indicated that it made them change their behaviour.
- 79% of clients found the activities challenging and purposeful.
- 62% of clients learnt new skills.
- 100% of stakeholders provided feedback indicating they were happy with the service they received.
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”We have established an excellent working relationship with Hinchingbrooke Country Park since the YMCA Reparation Service began in 2012 and it is scheduled as an activity venue on Sundays throughout the year.
The young people completing their reparation hours helping the park rangers with pathway maintenance and reconstruction, fence/gate maintenance, the cutting and storage of willow and logs as well as completing the essential site checks (eg. ensuring buoyancy aids are in place near the lake, etc) and litter picking around the play area and visitor centre.
Sessions at the park are supervised by skilled and experienced sessional staff and volunteer assistants who ensure that the young people are trained in the safe use of a range of tools and equipment on site.
