Community Justice Panels work for victims and offenders

12.00.00am GMT Mon 23rd Jun 2008

Responding to today's (Monday) ippr report on youth justice, which argues that young people committing non-severe crimes should be dealt with by Community Justice Panels, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

"Criminal justice policy should be about what works, not what sounds tough. It is clear that the Government's ridiculous targets system has criminalised an unprecedented amount of young people.

"Unsurprisingly, criminalising children does not work and dragging them through the justice system only increases their chances of becoming adult offenders.

"It is time to move away from punitive posturing in youth justice towards practices that are effective. Community Justice Panels, pioneered by the Liberal Democrats, and restorative justice have proven to be successful for both victims and offenders."