POLICE chiefs say they are seeing the fruits of their labour by helping victims understand the actions of criminals in the community.

Last week was National Restorative Justice Week and officials from the restorative justice teams were holding drop-in sessions for members of the public to find out about it including one at The Globe in Accrington on Friday afternoon.

Helena Cryer, restorative justice manager from Lancashire Police says the initiative is paying off.

She said:”Restorative justice tries to bring people affected by crime with the people who complete the offences trying to meet and get answers for the victims.

“It also gives the offenders an idea of how the offenders feel about the crime.

“There are some figures to say that after meeting victims 14 per cent of offenders stop re-offending because they speak to the person.

“We have had quite a good uptake over the last couple of years and have a team who are equipped to deal with things.

“In the last 12 months 293 people have come forward, which there is a good proportion have had face-to-face meetings.

“It is a voluntary process for both parties and can take a while for them to be in a position to meet.as they both need to be prepared,”

A Chorley woman has praised the restorative justice system after she was burgled 18 months ago.

The 65-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, had her handbag taken from her home.

She said: “The man who did it got four and a half years and I was happy with the sentence but after a few weeks I was angry with him, I could have ripped his head off but then I heard about restorative justice.

"I wanted to humiliate him but we met at a church and as he walked in he was shaking.

"After speaking to him he told me he had just come off drugs and I asked him if he came into my room but he said no and told me the route he took so I could believe him.

“He said that he just stole the bag and left. It just means I can move on now.

"I wanted to ask him questions but I did not want to destroy his positive attitude as he believed he was going to turn his life around.

"I had sleepless nights after it happened but I felt a bit easier after meeting him and got some satisfaction from it.”

Meanwhile Helena added that they had been working on involving restorative justice for hate crimes.

She said:”We have been doing some work on hate crimes earlier this year.

“The project was trying to provide restorative justice to them but we are just looking at best practice over it.

“We are raising the profile and trying to get people to have access to it.”

If you want to find out more about restorative justice then email rjadmin@lancashire.pnn.police.uk or alternatively ring 01772 412545.