Forcing offenders to meet their victims face-to-face can halve the number who go on to commit further crimes, a new report claims.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's study of the Restorative Cautions Scheme run by Thames Valley Police showed it was significantly more effective than traditional cautions, where offenders were given a severe "dressing down" by officers.
The new system -- introduced in 1998 -- involves offenders hearing about the harm their actions cause victims, either by meeting them in a specially organised conference or through a written statement.
Oxford University's Centre for Criminological Research said it also helped ease victims' concerns so they could overcome the after-effects of the crime.
"Thames Valley Police has been largely successful in transforming the way that young and adult offenders are cautioned," said Dr Carolyn Hoyle, co-author of the study. "The force has engineered a shift away from the idiosyncratic and sometimes stigmatising treatment of offenders, to a more consistent and visible system of restorative cautioning."
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