Under referral orders, all young offenders appearing in court for the first time who plead guilty and do not receive a custodial sentence are referred to their local youth offender panel.
The process went live last April.
Panels are made up of trained volunteers, a youth offending team and the young person's guardians. The Youth Justice Board is now seeking to add to the number of victims of crime involved, who can tell the offender how their offence affec-ted them and get involved in steering them away from crime.
By the end of 2002, more than 5,000 volunteer panel members were sitting on panels, with a further 2,000 in waiting or awaiting training.
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