Community Justice Glasgow Team
Margaret Smith
Manager
Hi, I’m Margaret – I have been working in Community Justice since the establishment of the Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) back in 2008. In 2024 – as part of the wider restructuring of Community Planning arrangements in Glasgow – I was delighted to take up the post of Manger of Community Justice Glasgow within the newly formed Communities Team.
I look forward to leading the Team, with an eye to continuous improvement and ensuring equity for those who come into contact with the justice system. Our work will have a focus on strengthening the visibility of the positive community and personal outcomes that can be achieved through robust alternatives to short-term prison sentences – which focus on addressing the underlying drivers of offending. We will continue work to improve the pathways to the right services at each touch point of the system and into communities to create sustainable outcomes. This will give us the best opportunity to reduce re-offending and importantly, the number of individuals and communities adversely impacted by offending. We will build on the solid foundations that have been developed by our Partnership since the introduction of the Community Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 which brought our Team into being in 2017.
Karen Baxter
Policy Officer
I have worked in community justice since January 2016, when I took up the Policy Officer post to assist with the transition to the new model of Community Justice and have continued working with the Community Justice Glasgow core team. Prior to this I worked in various roles in NHS Health Planning before moving on to Social Work Services in Renfrewshire and Glasgow, most recently working in addictions and homelessness service commissioning and contract management.
My role is varied, there are always new challenges and I enjoy working with so many different local and national partners. Working in partnership to see positive change is the most satisfying part of the role, and while this does not always happen as fast as I’d like, it is truly heartening to see partners work together to improve systems and services for people.
To me, community justice means getting the right support to people at the right times to prevent reoffending, helping to address the underlying issues that lead to offending, which in turn helps to reduce victimisation and improve our communities.
Lyn Pyper
Administration and Partnership Support
Hi there, I’m Lyn, I’ve worked with the Community Justice Glasgow (CJG) team since 2016 as the Administration and Partnership Support Officer. This involves a broad range of duties including administrative assistance for the CJG team, diary co-ordination, arranging and minuting meetings and organising various large community events throughout the year, as well as providing assistance to wider partner organisations. It is a varied workload with involvement in different areas of work within the team.
Our work is always evolving to meet the aims and objectives of our legislative requirements and ultimately to enhance and improve services for those involved in the justice system and those impacted by a person’s involvement.
My work within the team has shown me there are often a range of complexities involved for those in the justice system, from an individual’s specific needs to navigating the range of statutory services involved and the supporting voluntary organisations working to assist individuals. It has illustrated there is no “one size fits all” solution and that we must endeavour to adapt our operations to ensure those who need services, can access them at the earliest opportunity.
The role is varied, interesting and all in all keeps me very busy!
Richard Hill
Seconded Data Analyst
I am the Senior Data Analyst across Community Empowerment services with responsibility for both Community Justice Glasgow and the Glasgow Community Planning Partnership. I have worked as a Data Analyst for more than 10 years in the Council across several different areas including Finance and Human Resources. I joined Community Empowerment Services way back in 2015, initially as a part of Community Planning Partnership however my role expanded to include Community Justice Glasgow when the new model for the team began soon after.
Having worked intermittently with the team on various projects, in 2019 I became more involved when I joined the Pathfinder to Health Housing and Benefits (PHHaB) partnership, where I was part of the team creating the Data Sharing Agreement with Scottish Prison Service and subsequently planning the use of the data we received to secure tenancies, reduce homelessness and safeguarding financial support for those leaving prison. Subsequently, the team has been unable to get rid of me, as I joined many other projects and now see myself as a core team member.
Danni Glover
Communities Support Officer
I first joined the Community Justice Glasgow team in 2020 while on the Council’s Graduate Programme, but I’ve worked in community justice settings for far longer as I began my career delivering education and welfare programmes to incarcerated and recently released people and looked-after children in Northern Ireland. I spent two years as Glasgow’s Hate Crime Policy Officer, overseeing the rollout of policies connected with the implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 before rejoining the Community Justice Glasgow team in 2024.
As Communities Support Officer, my role is all about collaboration – I’m always looking for opportunities to create new partnerships between services and projects all over Glasgow and the people who might benefit from them. To me, Community Justice is all about partnership and collaboration, recognising that keeping people safe and reducing reoffending is a joint responsibility.
One Glasgow Core Team
Sergeant Stephen Want
Police Scotland Safer Communities, (One Glasgow Reducing Re-Offending & Glasgow City Council Local Authority Liaison Officer)
I have been in the Police for 13 years and have had a variety of different roles covering response policing, community policing, violence reduction and community crime prevention. I have also worked at national level as the training delivery lead for crime prevention, partnership working and community wellbeing for Police Scotland.
I have always had a passion for improving outcomes for the communities which I serve. To achieve this, I embed a partnership approach, having worked extensively with third sector, private sector and public sector agencies to ensure systematic working which is tailored to the needs of the diverse communities I serve.
On taking the helm of the One Glasgow Reducing Offending partnership project, I have been impressed by the work undertaken by the partnership to improve outcomes for young people in our city. This can only be achieved through collaborative working, relationship building and trust which allows our team to provide the scaffolding of support for young people across Greater Glasgow.
The One Glasgow project embodies the whole systems public health approach to community wellbeing. In my time in post I have seen countless young people who were on a dangerous trajectory and, through the hard work of our 3rd sector partners, have been diverted away from criminality and improved their lives and their families’ lives.
Looking forward to the next year the team and I are striving to continue building bridges between agencies for joined up approaches to give the best outcomes for all young people who engage in our service.
Alan Graham
Police Constable, Police Scotland & One Glasgow
I have been a Police Officer for 26 years and have spent most of my service working in a uniform operational environment. For the past 7 years I have been part of the One Glasgow Reducing Offending Unit. My day-to-day role within the department is to identify suitable young people, involved in offending behaviour, or potentially on the cusp of offending, for intervention work from our partner organisations.
I liaise with my Social Work colleague and between us we refer a number of suitable young people each year. I then provide support to the partners for each young person, and this is done through analytical support and regular scheduled meetings. I really enjoy the role and take a lot from it knowing that we have helped, through a partnership approach, many young people. This support helps to reduce the cycle of offending and in many cases offending ceases altogether. The work that I do, in connection with our partners, really helps to improve the lives of young people and their families across Glasgow.
Nanette Blair
Social Worker – One Glasgow and Glasgow City Council Intensive Services, Intensive Support and Monitoring Service (ISMS) and ISMS Alternative to Remand
I have been a qualified Social Worker since 2003 and I was initially in the area team locality as a Youth Justice Social Worker. I moved to ISMS (Alternative to Remand) in 2009 to develop and provide a new service to the Courts as a direct alternative to custody with an intensive package of support to reduce risks and vulnerabilities for young people. This has been a beneficial service for young people to provide support in the community and create positive outcomes for the city’s most vulnerable children/young people. I have gained a wealth of knowledge from my involvement in the service and I have an informed understanding of the criminal justice system and the impact on young people.
I moved to One Glasgow in May 2016 to develop the links between One Glasgow and Social Work. The team has created a multi-agency partnership model that is aspired to by other local authorities which include strong links with statutory and third sector agencies. This has allowed us to be efficient and effective in our response to offending to create the best outcomes for young people. The timely response using data and information are crucial to identifying the right service at the right time to create change and support young people move on to a positive lifestyle.
I am very proud to be part of the One Glasgow Team and I am looking forward to the future development of the service to continue to support the city’s young people. However, the credit needs to go to the young people who work hard with services to make that change.
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