Giving back to the community

Community service

When a court gives a young person a sentence, they have a few choices for what happens next. One common sentence for a young person is called a ‘community order’.

All community orders should include something called “reparation”. This means the young person must do something helpful to give back to the community.

The East Sussex Youth Justice Service organises this work. It includes:

  • looking after parks, gardens, and school grounds
  • painting benches in parks
  • fixing up youth and sports club buildings
  • handing out charity bags
  • getting clothes ready and making bird boxes

Restorative justice

A victim (the person who was hurt by what happened) can ask the young person to say sorry or do something to make up for what they did. This can be done in person or in another way. The Restorative Justice coordinator will talk to the victim to find out what they would like and if it can be done.

The Youth Justice Service can talk to you more about this.

Read more about the:

Youth Justice Service