Pupils see virtual justice

Young people were presented with a courtroom scene in a bid to open their eyes to the consequences of illegal online activity.

By The Newsroom
Thursday, 23rd June 2016, 4:01 pm
Updated Thursday, 23rd June 2016, 5:03 pm
from left: Leah Cornish, Emily Hubbard, Molly Hall, Mya Brady, Hollie Whittle, Rebecca Norris, Tom Williams, Benjamin Rice and Dylan Hopkins, teacher Gavin Brookes Front row from left: Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, Community Safety Chairman, at Nottinghamshire County Council, Tim Desmond, CEO Galleries of Justice Museum, Paul Bowden, Chairman of Trustees, National Centre for Citizenship and the Law.

As part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Virtual Justice programme, young people were involved in a cybercrime mock trial at the Galleries of Justice in Nottingham.

This project and several other successful community safety projects including Dragon’s Den style project and Take Five could be further developed as the council plans to work with partners to address issues raised by the 2016 Nottinghamshire Youth Commission report.

The report has been compiled with feedback and research from 1,000 young people with their views on a range of issues affecting crime reduction and policing. The study has highlighted action points identified by young people in a number of areas including drugs, alcohol and sexual harassment and education and crime prevention.

The report has been presented to and approved by the Youth Crime Prevention Advisory Group which features representatives from the council’s community safety, public health and children and young people’s teams.

Councillor Glynn Gilfoyle, community safety committee chairman at the county council, said: “The Youth Commission report highlights young people’s desire to be even more engaged in issues around community safety, restorative justice and policing. We are keen to continue working closely with them and our partners to help achieve this.

“Our track record of successful community safety projects with young people at the heart of them shows we have excellent platforms to develop further to meet these objectives.”

Paddy Tipping, Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “I believe that the success of the commission’s work was due to the way the young people had gone out and talked to other young people. I sat in on some of the sessions and I can tell you they’re talking in a language they understand and that was the strength of it, exploring the issues together and coming up with recommendations for change.

“This is a good report, but most importantly, I’m not going to keep it on a bookshelf - I’m working with it. I intend to keep the commission going.”