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Breaking the Cycle Green Paper shows government's commitment to the growth of Restorative Justice

On December 7th the Sentencing Green Paper Breaking the Cycle was published. This long awaited statement of the Government’s direction on criminal justice highlights the desire to expand provision of Restorative Justice in both the adult and youth justice systems, as part of a broader emphasis on reparation to victims of crime. These proposals sit alongside proposals to introduce payment by results, and substantial reforms to sentencing which will reduce the use of custody. The introduction states ‘We will ensure that criminals make amends for their crimes and better repair the harm they have caused to victims an society as a whole.’

In Chapter 1, the Green Paper signals plans to increase the use of compensation orders , victim personal statements, and (on page 22) increased opportunities to use Restorative Justice approaches. The paper highlights development of Restorative Justice at three key stages of criminal justice.

First, as ‘a better alternative to formal criminal justice action for low level offenders ... This is a more effective punishment than a simple caution, and builds on local approaches already used by the police.’

Second, the paper highlights the use of Restorative Justice as diversion from prosecution – an out of-court disposal – for cases where prosecution would be likely to lead to a fine or community sentence.

Thirdly the paper highlights the option of Restorative Justice pre-sentence for offenders who admit guilt, stating ‘They could therefore inform the court’s decision about the type or severity of sentence handed down’.’ This section of the paper concludes ‘Greater use of Restorative Justice, as set out above, can prevent the feeling of powerlessness which often results from being made a victim. Increased use of compensation and reparation will benefit victims directly while establishing the principle that offenders must take personal responsibility for their crimes.’

On page 63 of the Green Paper, in considering the use of out-of-court disposals, ‘restorative police action’ is again highlighted as a better alternative to formal criminal justice processes and the paper includes a consultation question on reforming the conditional caution.

Chapter 5 of the Green Paper focuses on Youth Justice, where again, plans to expand provision of Restorative Justice for victims of young offenders form a key commitment. The paper says (on page 69) ‘To increase the use of Restorative Justice we will build on the role currently performed by volunteer youth offender panel members and ensure that referral orders have a strengthened restorative approach. We will support panel members to increase their skills and confidence in using Restorative Justice in referral orders ... Restorative Justice is already a key part of youth justice and we want to encourage this across the youth justice sentencing framework as a whole,drawing on the experience of youth conferencing in Northern Ireland.’ A consultation question follows ‘How can we best use restorative approaches to prevent offending by young people and ensure they make amends?’

Finally on Restorative Justice, Chapter 6 of the Green Paper highlights Neighbourhood Justice Panels, signalling plans to pilot their wider use and asking a consultation question ‘What sort of offences and offenders should Neighbourhood Justice Panels deal with and how could these panels complement existing criminal justice processes?’

For full documents see Resources- Policy
 

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10th Dec 2010 | Government, policy | RJC

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