The Hertfordshire Criminal Justice Board (HCJB) formally brings together the Police, Her Majesty’s Court Service, Crown Prosecution Service, Youth Offending Teams, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS – incorporating Hertfordshire Probation Area and the Prison Service) and the Legal Services Commission to provide a ‘joined up’ criminal justice system aimed at ensuring more offenders are brought to justice, reduce re-offending, improve victim and witness care and increase public confidence in criminal justice.
To view the full Strategy Plan 2008/11 click on the link.
The Criminal Justice System (CJS) is currently undergoing large scale reform. Virtually every criminal justice agency and service has made major improvements to the way it serves the public. A programme of joint agency projects and initiatives have been introduced and implemented and we are fundamentally changing the way we work together, by developing new and stronger local and national partnerships.
During their first five years, the LCJB has made considerable progress towards improving local criminal justice services. Co-operation between our Criminal Justice agencies has increased through joint planning and identification of local priorities, followed up by agreeing co-ordinated strategies and establishing responsibilities. This is a ‘living document’ which aims to reflect the criminal justice reform agenda and the needs of the local communities across the county.
Vision Statement
Hertfordshire Criminal Justice Board shares a vision of a criminal justice system which encourages joint agency cooperation to bring offenders to justice swiftly and to reduce re-offending. The Board will work to ensure the public of Hertfordshire have confidence in the local criminal justice agencies and that those agencies meet the needs of victims and witnesses of crime.
Mission Statement
- Bringing offenders to justice:-We will work together to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our processes within the CJS locally, draw specific focus to the most serious offences, and enforcing all orders of the courts.
- Public confidence and Community engagement:-We will improve the public’s confidence in the local CJS by sharing the key messages of how fair and effective it is through all available media. We will also identify and address any inappropriate disproportionality at key stages through the CJS processes. We will do this by challenging each decision making point in the process and making comparative data sources available for independent review.
- Victims and witnesses at the heart:-We will improve victim satisfaction with the service provided by the Police and improve the satisfaction of the victims and witnesses with the service provided by all the CJ agencies.
- Tackle the most prolific offenders:-We will jointly invest resources to identify, apprehend and bring to justice the most prolific offenders in the county. We will work together with extended partners to divert these offenders from a life of crime, and holistically wrap the support services around them to reduce re-offending.
- Reduce Re-offending;-As well as the measures described above in relation to prolific offenders, there is a wide portfolio of interventions provided by the Probation Service and Youth Offending Teams which seek to reduce re-offending.In addition HCJB supports and encourages the County Council and all voluntary organisations to provide offender accommodation and employment opportunities throughout the county. The HCJB will work cooperatively with the Health Service to provide improved early screening of offenders demonstrating mental health issues into interventions or appropriate diversions from custody.
- Timely and efficient processes:-We will work together through modernisation and co-ordination of IT systems, and streamline processes to improve the workflow efficiency and timeliness of the local CJS. We will work together with the National Criminal Justice Board (NCJB) and Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) to deliver these improvements.
- Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA):-We will work collaboratively to ensure the joint agency risk management processes of the MAPPA Responsible Authority are delivered in the county effectively.