‘We Just Want to be Treated with Respect!’: Using Restorative Approaches and the Dramatic Arts to Build Positive Relationships Between the Police and Young People

Abstract

This article examines the Gloucestershire Youth Forums, an arts-based restorative intervention deployed in response to perceived issues with procedural justice, legitimacy and community relations between police and young people in the area. Through an ethnographic study of the forum processes and procedures, we show how such community-based arts programmes can be a powerful and effective tool for challenging entrenched views and have the potential to improve future encounters between police and young people. We also argue that the relevance and effectiveness of arts-based interventions can be increased by combining with restorative justice principles.