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A new way of Doing Justice - Restorative Justice Council response to Breaking the Cycle Green Paper

Restorative justice is, quite simply, better justice. It has the potential to transform our justice system by enabling people to ‘Do Justice’ themselves, rather than simply having it done to them, by:

  • putting victims and communities, the people really harmed by a crime, centre stage, giving people the right to their say, to communicate, to get answers and justice that means something
  • challenging offenders with something that court alone rarely offers - an insight into the real human impact of their crime, the chance to take responsibility and the motivation to change
  • providing personalised justice, with the back-up of the courts and the advice of criminal justice professionals, restorative justice (RJ) provides justice that means something, that works for the people directly affected by a crime, including the offender themselves
  • reclaiming justice for communities by building community ownership of justice outcomes 

The Government has made clear it’s commitment to developing the use of restorative justice at all stages of the Criminal Justice System (CJS). We commend the breadth of vision for restorative justice in Breaking the Cycle, and encourage the Government to be radical in statutory reform, giving all victims of crime – both victims of adult and young offenders – the option of participating in RJ whenever an offender pleads guilty. 

The RJC response to Breaking the Cycle outlines four key things that Government needs to do now to bring that vision to reality:

  • First, Government must abandon the performance and target culture which stopped police officers from using their discretion to find solutions that meet victim’s needs, and prevent future offending. We need a performance culture which encourages police to use their discretion, whenever RJ can provide a better outcome.
  • Second, to encourage community-based justice the Government must ensure that local and community based agencies – including Community Justice Panels – are given the infrastructure funding and support to grow. Volunteer and community based RJ are the essence of the Big Society vision in the Criminal Justice arena – but can only grow with secure funding for infrastructure at both national and local level.
  • Third, our Youth Justice legislation needs radical reform to bring it into line with that of Northern Ireland, and make restorative justice the normal response to youth offending. Legislation should make clear that RJ, delivered to national standards, is the default option, and should be offered to all victims whenever the young person pleads guilty and agrees to participate in the process. CPS/Police should also have the option to refer straight to RJ as soon as an offender accepts responsibility for the offence, as in Northern Ireland.
  • Fourth, for victims of adult offenders, legislation must place a duty on CJ agencies to offer restorative justice, delivered to national standards, to all victims of crime pre-sentence, whenever an offender pleads guilty and agrees to participate in the process. Government should also ensure that victims have access to restorative justice post-sentence. 

On behalf of RJC members, we welcome this Government’s commitment to developing restorative justice, and look forward to working with Government, and with our members and partner organisations nationally and at local level, to bring the vision of a new way of doing justice, outlined in Breaking the Cycle, into reality. 

Responses from our partner organisations to Breaking the Cycle, supporting restorative justice

"Victim Support believes that restorative justice should be made available to all victims who want it at whatever stage of the criminal justice process would suit them best."

"Clinks supports the idea of a National Register of Restorative Practitioners to ensure quality of delivery." 

"We attach to this response our recent report Time for a New Hearing (JUSTICE/The Police Foundation, 2010) which sets out our recommendations for making restorative justice the primary response to offending by children and young people in England and Wales"

"The Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ) supports proposals to increase the use of restorative justice throughout the criminal justice system."

"The T2A Alliance strongly endorses the use of restorative justice for young adult offenders over the age of 18, as well as young offenders." 

 
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4th Mar 2011 | RJC

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