Community Justice: in Moray

 

Families Outside, in partnership with Moray Wellbeing Hub CIC, conducted a piece of peer-research to explore the key question: what keeps people out of prison / prevents reoffending?

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Seeking to gather information through a series of engagement methods with offenders, family members, partner organisations and the wider community, we captured the voices of those with lived experience, alongside professional and public opinion. The output of this would then be used to improve access to services and support needed for individuals at risk of offending / re-offending in Moray.

 

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Activity:

 

1. Online survey open to the public

2. Outreach in the community

3. Hosting a specific focus group

4. 1-2-1 interviews with prisoners and family members

5. Creative output to increase awareness of the issues

 

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Summary of project success and learning:

Community justice has proven to be a sensitive subject for people with lived experience; however, despite this, and the challenges of conducting research whilst the COVID pandemic continued to impact our activity, we did get data useful for ourselves as partners working to support community justice and the Community Justice Partnership in Moray, who asked us to undertake this.

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The survey provided a wide range of perspectives and emerging needs. The outreach increased the discussions in the community on this subject, and the 1-2-1 interview process has provided meaningful in-depth insight into the challenges people with lived experience face.

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The key takeaway from this project is to continue exploring mechanisms that attract and engage lived experience from this perspective, seeking a format that best suits the subject's sensitivities to enable further engagement. The opportunity has arisen to explore providing peer support for family members of ex-offenders, which has been a very positive outcome.​​