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Community Service is one of the most successful community sentences in preventing reoffending and enabling people to give back to the local community. On 2 December we held an event in north Belfast to thank staff and partners for delivering community service to local communities.
Opening the event Board Chair Glenn Houston said: “Public opinion about how best to rehabilitate and reintegrate people who have committed serious crimes varies widely and it can sometimes lead to heated conversations. Some people see community sentences as a soft option. But we all know that’s not the case. Community sentencing is a legitimate and evidence-based deterrent and is recognised through research as an appropriate means of reducing the likelihood of reoffending”.
He continued: “Community Service provides opportunities for those involved to partake in restitution, by making amends, whilst raising self-awareness about the impact of their crimes, providing insight into the impact of their offending not only on the victim and their family, but on the perpetrator’s family and wider society”.
As part of the event, there was a really positive panel discussion with Sinead and Glen from the West Belfast Office and service user John who has recently completed community service. Isobel Kerr from Habitat from Humanity also participated and talked about how important it was to have hope for the future and community service provided hope both to service users and members of the community.
Gillian Montgomery Director of Operations facilitated the panel discussion and said: “Within the justice system we often talk a lot about rehabilitation and reintegration. What we mean by that is reducing re-offending, preventing people becoming victims and providing long term and sustained positive outcomes for individuals and wider society. Effective rehabilitation and reintegration recognise the importance of both building positive relationships and community acceptance.
The community service order is a very practical and visible way in which individuals can build positive relationships within their local area and organisations like probation can enhance local understanding and acceptance”.
The Board Chair concluded the event thanking everyone for their partnership, collaboration and commitment to working together to make all communities in Northern Ireland safer.