Carrying on my theme of 'words and actions'. The Home Sec also emphasised at the Supers Conference the importance of "creating much greater links to the broader criminal justice system and empowering local people to get more involved".

Enter (stage right) Ministry of Justice Minister David Hanson. He and MoJ have just launched the Citizens Panels pilot scheme to give communities more say in the type of work offenders carry out in the community.

Citizens Panels will, apparently, enable members of the public to consult with their local council and probation services to identify work that needs to be carried out in their area to improve public safety and the environment. The pilots will be running in six areas around the country ( Greater Manchester, Suffolk, Leicester, Hampshire, Wiltshire and North Wales).

The pilots build on recommendations in the recent Casey Review. Casey's report 'Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime', found that the public wanted to be given more information about Community Payback work and have a say in what offenders are required to do. 82% of people interviewed thought that people should be informed about the type of work offenders were doing. 58% of the public wanted to have a say in the type of work that should be undertaken; and, of those, 71% said that they would attend a meeting to influence this.

Community Payback was launched in 2005 to increase public involvement in deciding which projects offenders work on in the local community.  The Ministry of Justice's prison policy update paper gave a commitment to build on Community Payback by establishing Citizens Panels to help local communities decide which projects offenders should undertake in their local areas.

Justice Minister, David Hanson, said: 'Citizens Panels will put the public at the heart of decision-making in their local communities, allowing them to have more say on the type of work that offenders carry out. We are strengthening community sentences in the country to make them tough, visible and effective'.

Visible they should be, because part of the recent announcement by the Justice Secretary on these matters, included the introduction of high visibility jackets for offenders working on community payback.

Related posts:

1. Got any jobs you want done by a nice man in an orange boiler suit?
2. 10 top approaches the public want in policing
3. Social engineering and policing
4. Neighbourhood Policing: Is it working?
5. The future’s bright, the future’s er………this way.