Leeds Youth Justice Service

Our service has 7 key values that we work to. They include being:

1. Child-centred: young people who have offended have a right to have a voice and have choices. We make sure that all children and young people invoved with our service are happy and safe and we're committed to lowering the rate of young people offending through our caring staff.
2. Safe: we work with others to protect victims and reduce future victims of crime. We do all we can to make our service an emotionally and physically safe place where young people can begin to heal and thrive.
3. Relationship-based: we're able to build trusting relationships with young people, while challenging them on some of the decisions they make.
4. Fair: many of the children and young people in the youth justice system are disadvantaged in the city, experiencing trauma and victimisation. We use restorative techniques with victims and encourage young people to repair the harm they have caused.
5. Working together: working in partnership with families, communities and other services, we improve young people’s life prospects. This means sharing information to provide a seamless service to young people.
6. Giving support at the right time: we believe that minor crimes should be dealt with outside the formal youth justice system and when a criminal justice response is required, children should be dealt with at the lowest possible tier. This will reduce the number of potential victims of crime and promote the safety of our local communities. We support young people and their families early to help prevent problems from growing out of control.
7. Effective: we're committed to evidence-based and anti-discriminatory practices. Our early interventions with young people and their families build on strengths and celebrate successes.