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Labour amendment to introduce restorative justice to Sentencing Bill narrowly defeated

On Thursday 15th September 2011 Labour MP Helen Goodman proposed an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before Parliament at the Public Bill Committee stage. The proposed amendment would place a duty on courts to consider making an ‘order to participate in a restorative justice course’ and would require them to consider the views of the victim ‘in determining what form the order will take.’

The amendment was discussed at length and restorative justice received cross-party support. Although Justice Minister Crispin Blunt was sympathetic to the amendment, he set out three reasons why he said the Government could not support it.

Mr Blunt outlined the Government's desire to move away from ‘top-down’ approaches to the criminal justice system and instead encourage change from the ‘grass-roots’: 

“Increasing the use of restorative justice is not about imposing rigid legal duties; it is about supporting a culture change in the mind of practitioners to develop and deliver effective restorative justice practices that are rooted in local need and responsive to local crime and reoffending, all of which can be achieved through existing legislation.”

In addition he argued that central government does not have the resources to implement a national roll out of restorative justice similar to the Northern Ireland Youth Conferencing Service, nor does the current criminal justice system have the capacity to be able to accommodate the duty at present.

Helen Goodman responded:

“I am pleased that the Minister supports restorative justice. I do not doubt his sincerity, but I am worried that his approach will not deliver the goods. He argued that he does not want legislation and that he has no money, but that he wants to change the culture. When people talk about culture change, it often means that they want something to happen, but they do not quite know what. It is a catch-all for not taking action. Sometimes, changing the law is an instrument for changing culture; it is not a result of a changed culture.”

The proposed amendment received strong support and was only narrowly defeated, eight votes to nine.

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16th Sep 2011

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