Referral Stage:

The YOT Officer, who referred the case to us, wanted to use our mediation skills to raise awareness within a particular community about a recent medical diagnosis or one of his clients. The boy in question is a persistent offender who, along with a small group of friends, has committed crimes in the area on a regular basis.

Remedi’s Role:

We were to contact community leaders in the area to firstly highlight the fact that the crimes were not going unnoticed and to ascertain the main problems the community were facing. We were then to work towards the young offender either apologising for his actions or perhaps doing some work in the community to try to make amends. We were to mainly try initially to see which would be the best way forward. Once links were established we were to explain about the medical condition our offender was suffering from and how this affected his behaviour. Before the meetings we found some literature about Aspergers Syndrome which is a form of autism. We felt we needed to check with the offenders parents first exactly how this condition manifested itself with their son, as there were many variations to this condition.

Meetings with Community Leaders:

We established that the young offender had been accused of damaging some newly planted trees and the community leaders felt if he replanted some new trees it would go towards repairing some of the damage he has inflicted on the community. We also established that the community had become extremely angry as they felt they had inadequate police cover. Although the community policeman was helpful he was covering a very large area and only had a bike as transport. This had bred a growing resentment and we found there were rumours of possible retaliation as members of the community felt the offenders were avoiding prosecution. We were able to explain that the offender we were dealing with was not avoiding prosecution and that we would be working closely with him.

Meeting with the offender and his family:

We found the offender's father to be extremely supportive and he explained how he and the rest of his family were affected by his sons behaviour. He also explained that his other children hadn’t ever been in trouble. He agreed to meet the community leaders in order to explain how his sons diagnosis affected his behaviour.

Outcome/Community Mediation/Direct Mediation:

This particular meeting went extremely well in developing community links and has helped in a joint committee being established in the area. The offender's father explained about his son's condition but without making excuses for his actions. He also confirmed that he would help ensure his carried out some reparation work within the community. The members present felt now that the offender's family were definitely not to blame for their son's behaviour. We were also able to improve links between the local shop which had been subjected to race related crimes, the young offender who had burgled the shop and the community. There had been a problem with the community groups viewing the shop owners as potentially fuelling youth crime by possibly selling alcohol to underage drinkers. However after we had a meeting with the shop owners this fear was proved to be untrue. We were able to then improve relations by the committee inviting one of the shops owners to join their committee. We were also able to set up indirect mediation between the young offender and the shop owners which will hopefully lead to direct-mediation in the near future.

Sandra Longley
Mediator Supervisor