Welcome

New!! The Woolf Within

The experience of Peter Woolf and Will Riley at and after their Restorative Justice conference

To view, click on the play button below

Peter Woolf's book The Damage Done is published by Bantam Press on May 19 at £12.99

Will Riley Chairs the new group Why me? Victims for Restorative Justice launched May 13th 2008 for more information click here

What is restorative justice? [download flyer]

Restorative Justice (RJ) processes gives victims the chance to tell offenders the real impact of their crime, to get answers to their questions and to receive an apology. It gives the offenders the chance to understand the real impact of what they’ve done and to do something to repair the harm. RJ holds offenders to account for what they have done, personally and directly, and helps victims to get on with their lives.

RJ can take place when the offender has already been sentenced, in prison or in the community. It can take place when an offender has pleaded guilty in court, but before the judge passes sentence. It can be used as an alternative to prosecution for less serious crimes.

Restorative processes are also being used successfully outside the Criminal Justice System, for example, in schools, workplaces, care homes, health services and communities.

RJ works:

• 41% of victims say they want to meet the offender; and 51% say they think RJ would work better than prison to reduce re-offending. 75-95% of victims who do take part in RJ are glad they did so
• RJ has been shown to reduce the post-traumatic stress symptoms of victims, and help them return to work following serious crimes
• Research from around the world shows that RJ can substantially reduce re-offending rates in many cases

But only a tiny minority of victims of youth crime in our country have access to RJ. We believe that high quality RJ – based on agreed principles and standards, and delivered by carefully trained facilitators – should be available throughout the UK for all victims of crime who want it.

The Restorative Justice Consortium is the independent umbrella body for RJ in England and Wales. We are here to provide information about RJ to the public; to promote the development of RJ, based on the evidence; and to support and resource our members who work in the RJ field. We are a not-for-profit organisation. Do join us, and support our work.

This site is full of useful information on restorative justice. Using the bar on the left hand side you can find: more information About Us; What do we do?; How to Join; information About RJ - internationally and in different settings such as schools, prisons etc; Resources, such as the latest information on Policy, Research, Media Articles, Publications, Speeches and much more.

If you are having difficulty finding what you are looking for try using the search bar, or our site index where everything is listed by title, in alphabetical order.

If you have information or materials that you think would benefit users of this site, and would like them added, please do contact us.

We do however reserve editorial control and the right to withhold materials and links which we consider irrelevant or unsuitable for publication on this site.