- Want to give back to your local community?
- Have a passion for working with young people?
- Have an interest in the criminal justice system?
There are exciting opportunities to become involved in the work of the Youth Justice Service. Every borough has a Youth Justice Service; to supervise children convicted at Court or diverted from Court. They also provide and instigate positive opportunities intended to re-engage children with their communities.
Youth Justice Service (YJS) volunteers come from many backgrounds, with a wide variety of life experience. It is very rewarding to help children develop and grow and appreciate they are part of a supportive community.
Volunteers are provided with full training and development opportunities.
Available volunteer opportunities
Referal Order Panel Member
Being a Youth Offender panel member is a challenging, yet rewarding role. It is also a role that can positively impact the lives of young people, their parents, carers and victims of crime. Using the principles of restorative justice, the role can support young people to decrease their involvement in criminal or anti-social behaviour, increase positive relationships with their parents or carers and support victims of crime to be heard.
Panels are led by a volunteer Community Panel Member (CPM). These meetings involve young offenders, their parents or carers, crime victims, and community members. The aim is to discuss the offence, help young offenders take responsibility, and create a personalised contract to repair harm and reduce reoffending. This could include community work, writing apology letters, and participating in programmes on victim awareness or substance use.
Restorative Justice Practice Support
Restorative Justice (RJ) helps victims and offenders communicate, repair harm, and move forward positively. It brings together those affected by crime to make reparations and plan for future restoration. RJ can happen face-to-face or through an intermediary using indirect methods.
Ealing Youth Justice Service seeks to contact every victim of the children that they supervise. Once the Police have confirmed the victim is willing to be contacted, Ealing YJS describe the service and establish the extent to which they wish to participate in RJ.
We need volunteers to help with the RJ process and assist in facilitating the different RJ methods that victims and young people might be open to trying.
We hope to expand the numbers of trained facilitators and increase our ability to offer restorative work across Ealing.
Group Programme and Reparation Project Support
Working alongside our experienced officers, you will help facilitate our group programmes and community reparation projects. These projects support young people to build their skills and knowledge in order to build positive relationships and lead pro-social lives.
Reparation activities include groundworks at an urban zoo, youth club rejuvenation and assisting at a Night Shelter for homeless people. We are looking to expand the range of activities that we offer and to include communities in these. Reparation is potentially a means of reintegrating a child into their community support networks.
Community Monitoring Group (CMG)
Ealing CMG is a community lead group that is commissioned under the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). This group meets every 3 months with key police partners to review the use of stop and search in the borough. These meetings review quarterly stop and search data across the borough which allows for community oversight of police practice. Body worn footage of police stop and search is also reviewed and the practice of stop and searches directly fed back upon.
Who can volunteer?
It makes no difference where you come from or what you do, as long you are over 18 years old and are willing to make a difference in your community.
Due to the nature of the role, each volunteer will be subject to an enhanced DBS check.
If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, please contact us at yjsvolunteering@ealing.gov.uk