Putting Victims at the Heart of Justice and Reducing Reoffending

Further develop Voice for Victims and Witnesses, mandating all victims are referred to the service, improving the quality of service to ensure all victims receive the best possible experience to cope, recover and thrive.
Continue to invest in victims’ services for specialist needs including sexual and domestic abuse, road traffic collisions and children and young people.
Ensure that the provision of services for victims and survivors of domestic abuse are prioritised by partners and strengthened for the long term.
Oversee compliance with the Victims Code of Practice across partners to provide the most victim centred service from first point of contact onwards.
Make sure every victim, at whatever stage in the criminal justice proves, gets the opportunity to take part in a restorative justice approach where they wish to do so.
Provide for increased special measures in court cases, including access to remote links to enable them to give evidence to court via video.

Develop a range of new rehabilitative options, both at court and out of court, to support partners to manage offenders and prevent re-offending.
Work with criminal justice partners to ensure that trials are held as swiftly as possible.
Seek to ensure that local communities, through the PCC, have a greater say in how offenders are managed and rehabilitated through the justice system
Develop a Reducing Reoffending Board and Reducing Reoffending Action Plan to ensure that the work of local criminal justice partners is coordinated and effective.
Develop a whole system approach to female offending in the county, focused on the expansion of existing female specific services to address the specific needs of female offenders.

Provide drug and alcohol treatment courses as out-of-court disposals for low-level offences caused by substance misuse
Continue to work with Public Health to ensure that those individuals with substance misuse issues who are in the criminal justice system get the very best treatment to aid recovery and reduce criminal behaviour.
Lobby to open up a national debate to take the politics out of the debate on drugs and instead focus on the best evidence to develop drugs policy.
Expand the use of naloxone to ensure frontline staff have the best tools to treat someone who has overdosed.

Deliver against the recommendations from the Time2Listen report including seeking to develop routes to ensure people in crisis get the help they need from the right service at the right time. This will include working with partners to ensure out of hours mental health provision is as appropriate as possible to support individuals without a reliance on the police.
Build on the existing pioneering national scheme for mental health treatment requirements (MHTR) for women to continue to build the pathway for women in the criminal justice system to have their mental health needs met, whilst expanding MHTR for men.
Work with partners, service users and carers to improve the training of frontline officers and staff so that they can respond better to people with mental illness
Develop a partnership approach that will better address the needs of people with mental health issues and find ways to share information between health and police that will ensure a consistent service can be provided.