restorative justice

• restorative justice process

  a process of managed collaboration between the offender and victim based on the related principles of healing and empowerment. a supervised meeting is organised between the two where the victim is given the opportunity to confront the offender and explain how the incident affected them. the offender is then able to see the consequences of their actions, this is part of the rehabilitation process
• key features of the process

  • focus on acceptance of responsibility and positive change for people who harm others
  • not restricted to courtrooms, may choose to meet face to face in a non-courtroom setting
  • active rather than passive involvement of the parties in the process when possible
  • focus on positive outcomes for survivors and those who have done wrong
• variations of the process

  not all involve face to face meetings. the offender may make some financial payments to the victim which may reflect the psychological damage. the offender could repair the damage themselves if physical. the process is flexible and can function as an alternative for prison, if young offender, which can be added on to community service
• restorative justice council

  an independent body whose role is to establish clear standards for the use of restorative justice and to support victims and specialist professionals in the field. the RJC advocates the use of restorative justice in preventing and managing conflicts in places such as schools, workplaces and prisons
• A03 - diversity of programmes

  • there is flexibility in the programme and covers a wide range of applications e.g. schools and hospitals
  • this is positive so the schemes can be adopted and tailored to the needs of the individuals situation
  • however it can present difficulties in drawing overall general conclusions about the effectiveness of the approach