Simon Danczuk MP

Fighting for Rochdale, Littleborough and Milnrow

Plans to give communities more of a say in how the justice system works have been welcomed by Simon Danczuk, Rochdale’s Labour Parliamentary candidate.

Mr Danczuk is appealing to local people to join a consultation aimed at generating more ideas for ensuring that the justice system is run for the people it serves – the law-abiding public.

Speaking after the publication of a Green Paper called Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice, he said he was “delighted” that Rochdale was one of the areas chosen to pilot new measures that will put people back at the heart of the justice system.

Labour wants the people who play by the rules to be able to influence how their justice system works.

We want people to be able to:

• Get more information about justice outcomes in a format that suits them, linked to information on crime maps
• Find out about outcomes of cases of particular local concern on-line and in other ways
• Have a say in how initiatives like Community Payback are run in their area
• Feed their views into the heart of the justice system through face-to-face meetings with Community Prosecutors, magistrates and neighbourhood policing teams and through Community Impact Statements
• Benefit from problem-solving techniques pioneered through Community Justice
• Get feedback on how their information has been used and what happened in the case;
• Get involved, through more joined up and effective engagement activities or by taking up one of the many volunteering opportunities with criminal justice organisations.

Simon Danczuk said:

"This is a brilliant new initiative by Labour. It will give the people of Rochdale an even greater chance to have their say."

“I believe that people should be able to get more information about crime and justice in their area, and have more of a say in what happens to those who break the law."

“Our opponents call this sort of thing ‘gimmicks’. But I don’t think there is anything gimmicky about giving communities a greater voice in the justice system."

“Crime is down by a third since 1997 but it is also crucial that the law-abiding majority has confidence in the system."

“Justice must not only be done, but also be seen to be done. This goes a long way to achieving that.”

Labour is planning to develop:

• websites which will allow local people to see what happened in particular court cases in their area
• more Citizens Panels to allow communities to decide what work offenders on Community Payback sentences should do,
• new Community Prosecutors closely linked to local communities
• new Community Impact Statements so that when a crime is committed, local people can feed their views into the prosecution process.

Labour’s Justice Secretary Jack Straw said:

“I want everyone to have a voice in their justice system. I hope the people of Rochdale will feed in their ideas for how they can have more of a say, and new ideas on how justice can be seen to be done.

“I really urge everyone to get involved – it’s your justice system, so we want your views.”

Notes

• The consultation period starts with publication on Wednesday 29 April 2009 and ends on Friday 31 July 2009.
• The consultation document can be found at
  http://www.consultations.cjsonline/
• Responses can be submitted on-line at
  http://consultations.cjsonline.gov.uk/?conid=1;
  via email to EngagingCommunities@cjs.gsi.gov.uk or in writing to:

  “Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice Consultation Responses”,
  Race, Confidence and Justice Unit,
  Office for Criminal justice Reform,
  Ground Floor (NW),
  Fry Building,
  2 Marsham Street,
  London
  SW1P 4DF