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New Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Practice endorsed by Ministry of Justice

Best Practice Guidance for Restorative Practitioners was first published by the Home Office in 2004. The Best Practice Guidance is the foundation of quality standards in restorative practice and now forms the basis for national occupational standards and accreditation of restorative practitioners as well as underpinning the standards for training as set out in the RJC’s Trainers Code of Practice.

A key recommendation in the 2004 Guidance was for the Best Practice Guidance to be regularly reviewed and updated. In 2010 the Ministry of Justice - now leading on restorative justice policy for Government - commissioned the Restorative Justice Council (RJC) to lead a review of the Best Practice Guidance, bringing researchers, practitioners and commissioners together to update the guidance in the light of research and practice developments since 2004.

This 2011 Best Practice Guidance builds on the 2004 version with some significant changes. We now have much clearer evidence for when, and how, restorative processes deliver positive outcomes for both victims and offenders, including for serious crimes such as robbery, burglary and violent offences. Restorative practice has also taken off at the grass roots, from their use in community policing to deal with minor crime and anti-social behaviour to circles in schools to build relationships, to restorative practice in resolving conflicts between foster children and their carers and to use in prisons and secure settings to deal with internal conflicts.

With the publication of three reports in the Home Office/Ministry of Justice/Shapland research series since 2004, and other qualitative research findings, there is a wealth of new material to draw on to shape the guidance in the field. The international legal framework has also developed. In the light of the research evidence on the key role that the service provider plays in the overall quality of restorative practice, new guidance specifically for service providers has been developed and included in this guidance.

This guidance is endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and is introduced by Crispin Blunt, minister of state for prisons and probation. It was also supported by Nick Herbert, Minister of State for Policing at the ACPO/RJC joint conference on Wednesday 16th February 2011.

As such this guidance is essential reading for anyone involved in the field of restorative practice, and particularly so for practitioners, their line managers, case supervisors and service providers.

Given the importance of this document to quality restorative practice RJC are delighted to make it freely available to all RJC members as an electronic download in our resources section. Hard copies are available to order.

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17th Feb 2011 | Best Practice | RJC

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