Platform 51

News

Friday, 28 May 2010
A cautionary tale

Girls find out what really happens in court

Inspired by our work with offenders, girls from our centre in Doncaster went behind the scenes to find out what really happens to women who end up in court.

They visited Doncaster Magistrates Court where Janet Cozens, a local magistrate, talked them through who does what and explained to them what kind of crimes a Magistrate Court deals with. The girls heard the stories of people who have committed crimes and found out how and why they are sentenced.

This visit is one of several activities the girls are involved with to help them understand how the criminal justice system works. It cleared up many misconceptions they had and made them think about the decision making that goes into handing out sentences.

Stacey, 18, found the visit motivational and enthused: "I’ve never been to court before; it was different to how I thought it would be. I really enjoyed it and I would like train to be magistrate."

Mary Woolley, a YWCA worker, said: "This has been a fantastic opportunity to break down some of the barriers girls from deprived backgrounds so often face. They are keen to give something back to the community and would like to become more involved in local services."

YWCA knows that women often offend because they are poor, disengaged from education, suffer from mental health problems, violence, abuse or social exclusion. We run one-stop-shops for women who have been in prison and those who are at risk of offending. And it works. 95 per cent of the women we work with do not reoffend.