Community Justice Partnership

Just Communities: strengthening relationships, building resilience and reducing reoffending

Community Justice Partnership

The local community justice partnership is a strategic partnership working in collaboration to:

prevent and reduce further offending by addressing its underlying causes; and
work together to help safely and effectively manage and support those who have committed offences to enable them reintegrate effectively into their community and realise their potential for the benefit of all.

When people think about justice they often think about criminal justice, police, courts and prisons, but Community Justice is much wider than this and involves us all, including victims of crime, those who commit offences and the families of both.

We know that many things can impact on the way people behave and on their communities including education (schools and further education), employment services and jobs, health, income, housing and lots of third sector/voluntary organisations .......................

BUT

The most important thing that influences people are their families and the communities within which they live.

The justice system is very complicated, with different options available at each stage of the journey. There are lots of decisions to be made from the point of arrest to the decision to charge, whether to proceed to court or divert and what type of sentence to give. Yet there are lots of things we as communities can and could do before people even get to the stage of formal involvement in the system.

Strong, connected communities working together can have a much greater effect on the lives of people than services alone ever could.

Under the old model for community justice Dumfries and Galloway was part of South West Scotland Community Justice Authority, alongside North, South and East Ayrshire. The new local model was established under the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 with a much greater focus on local delivery and partnership working in Dumfries and Galloway.

Things Can Be Different - Help and Support Leaflet

Download: Things Can Be Different - Help and Support Leaflet (PDF, 509 KB)

Navigating Scotland's Justice System

Click HERE to access the new interactive digital tool: Navigating Scotland's Justice System

Download the Victim Support Scotland Support after a Crime and Going to Court leaflets

VSS Suppport After Crime (PDF, 675 KB)

VSS Going To Court (PDF, 491 KB)

Dumfries and Galloway Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan 2023-2028

Community Justice Improvement Plan (PDF, 1 MB)

Community Justice Partnership Annual Report 2020/2021

Community Justice Partnership Annual Report 2020/2021 (PDF, 1 MB)

Community Justice Partnership Annual Report 2019/20

Download the 2019/20 CJP Annual Report (PDF, 2 MB)(opens new window)

Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan - Position Statement

Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan - Position Statement (PDF, 112 KB)

Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan 2

Community Justice Outcomes Improvement Plan 2 - Dumfries and Galloway Council (dumgal.gov.uk)

Smart Justice

Watch the Community Justice Scotland videos below and learn more about Smart Justice.

Smart Justice in Scotland (Video, 14 MB)(opens new window)

Why Smart Justice Works (Video, 15 MB)(opens new window)

Community Justice Participation Statement

As part of the development and creation of a Community Justice Outcome Improvement Plan (CJOIP) for Dumfries and Galloway we have to evidence participation and involvement of the third sector, partners and communities. Extensive consultation took place prior to the first iteration of our local CJOIP and participation has continued throughout the lifetime of the partnership. Third Sector partners have a pivotal role to play and have undoubtably added value to the partnership as well contributing to local outcomes. Ongoing participation and involvement can be evidenced through membership of the partnership, minutes of meetings and is clearly seen in the Outcome Annual Activity Report submitted to Community Justice Scotland every year. The participation statement for Dumfries and Galloway can be accessed here:

DG CJOIP 202328 Participation Statement (PDF, 182 KB)

Community Justice Participation Statement (PDF, 257 KB)

Who are our partners

Our statutory partners nationally and locally under this model are:

We also have people from the third/voluntary sector on our Partnership, locally this includes Third Sector Dumfries and Galloway, Victim Support, Families Outside, Apex and Turning Point Scotland; other third sector partners are invited and welcome to get involved to deliver targeted pieces of work. We also work with the homeless team, education, Department of Work and Pensions, criminal justice and children and families social work. This multi agency approach helps us to reach our goals as a partnership and everyone brings something different; they also have different relationships with those they work with whilst also often working with exactly the same people!

Over the next year we really want to involve our local community more so please get in touch if you want to get involved, you might just enjoy it!