Violent pupils must face their victims, says ex-police chief

Violent and disruptive pupils should be brought face to face with their victims to take responsibility for their actions, a former police chief said today.

Sir Charles Pollard said so-called "restorative justice" techniques have already halved exclusion rates and cut bullying in some of England's toughest schools.

But ministers have failed to "grasp the nettle" and promote the system more widely, according to Sir Charles, the former chief constable of Thames Valley Police.

He was speaking before giving a presentation to independent school headteachers alongside a convicted burglar who gave up crime after hearing how his actions had ruined his victim's life.

Restorative justice brings offenders together with their victims in a meeting chaired by a trained facilitator. The two sides discuss the impact of a crime in what Sir Charles said was often a "very powerful" encounter. The key element of the process was "personal, direct confrontation with the impact you have on other people", Sir Charles said. "The evidence is overwhelming of massive victim satisfaction. They believe this is very helpful to them," he said.

The typical approach to unruly pupils is to throw them out of school. But children excluded from mainstream education are far more likely to turn to drugs or serious crime, he said.

Restorative justice deals effectively with problems that occur while keeping the pupils in school and continuing with their education.

Exclusion rates in schools where the technique has been used have fallen by 45 per cent, alongside a reduction in truancy and bullying, Sir Charles said. But he said ministers had not given the approach - which has been championed by a number of groups - the support that it deserves.

"I am personally very disappointed at the failure to grasp the nettle on something which could have a major impact on behaviour in some of England's toughest schools," he said.

Since leaving Thames Valley Police in 2002, Sir Charles has chaired the Youth Justice Board and is now chairman of Restorative Solutions, a notfor-profit organisation which works with community groups, police and schools. He will set out the case for restorative justice at the annual meeting of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference of leading private schools in Kensington.