Restorative Solutions partners with The Hampton Trust to mobilise CARA in West Yorkshire

Restorative Solutions is delighted to be working with the Mayor Tracy Brabin and West Yorkshire Police, in partnership with The Hampton Trust, to set up and mobilise Project CARA across the force area. We firmly believe that CARA offers an improved criminal justice response to victims of domestic abuse by enhanced risk management and holding standard risk offenders to account for their actions. Restorative Solutions will work with The Hampton Trust to build on the success both of similar CARA sites elsewhere in the country and the Restorative Justice Service for victims of crime in West Yorkshire, which Restorative Solutions have been delivering since 2018.

Restorative Solutions’ Director of Practice Delivery, Tony Walker, said: “Over the last 3 years, the use of Restorative Justice in cases of Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) has evolved through careful, considered, safe practice. Restorative Solutions and The Hampton Trust have worked together developing safe practice approaches and in depth training of practitioners to use the approaches. Restorative Solutions have also worked with a range of DVA service providers across West Yorkshire to design and develop local protocols to support these approaches. The new CARA programme in West Yorkshire will build on those existing strong partnerships.”

Chief Executive of The Hampton Trust, Chantal Hughes, said: “CARA is designed to be an ‘up-stream’ intervention, getting to the root of the problem and resolving it before it can escalate. It is designed to intervene far earlier than has ever been done in criminal justice before, with the aim to make our communities safer and ease pressures on front line services.”

Chief Inspector Martin Moizer, Criminal Justice, said: “Our priority will always be supporting the victim and doing all we can to keep them safe. We know that domestic abuse is rarely a one-off incident, evidence shows perpetrators of DA often continue to re-offend and there can be an escalation of harm over time.”

“The new CARA process is designed to be used as a mandatory condition with an out of court disposal in lower level offences and will provide offenders with access to education and support so they can address their abusive attitudes at the very earliest opportunity. Some of these will be cases that are coming to the notice of the police for the very first time. If we can break the cycle of domestic abuse at that stage by educating about the effect and consequences of their actions on their partners and children, we hope to reduce the likelihood of reoffending and decrease the risk to victims whose safety is of paramount importance to us all.”