Restorative Practice Resources Tagged With: victim

'Victim-survivors of domestic, family, and sexual violence who participated in restorative justice in the ACT felt safer, better supported, and more in control because of their involvement in the scheme, an Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) evaluation of the ACT’s restorative justice scheme has found.

“This evaluation found restorative justice provides an important mechanism for persons harmed to seek redress in the aftermath of domestic and family violence and sexual violence victimisation, and for persons responsible to address the factors associated with their offending,” Siobhan Lawler, senior research analyst at the AIC, said.'

Victim-survivors of violence who participated in restorative justice in the ACT felt safer, better supported, and more in control.

At its heart, restorative justice requires both parties working together to better understand each other’s needs and motivations in order to repair their relationship, find forgiveness, heal the harm done and find a peaceful resolution. This does not mean that perpetrators are absolved with a pardon.

The restorative lens also requires the wider community, who are indirectly impacted by the harm, to come together and offer support for this healing journey while ensuring the underlying needs/grievances that caused such harm are minimised. Likewise, communities engaged in the process learn to replace punishment with healing, hatred with forgiveness. This allows the space required to overcome shame, intimidation and judgement for both victim and offender, while facilitating the restoration of harmed relationships.

Notes for an address by The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould, PC, QC, MP Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, September 13, 2018

Extract: The first initiative is expanding the use of restorative justice, which emphasizes repairing the relationship between the victim and the offender. Restorative justice is focused more on collaboration and inclusivity, and is often more culturally relevant and responsive to specific communities. Victims have a powerful voice, and this process allows them to be heard and to heal, while at the same time, holding the offender accountable for their actions.

In this sense, I sometimes view restorative justice as acting as a kind of “circuit-breaker” from the cycle that so many find themselves caught in. While restorative justice has been part of Canada’s criminal justice system for over 40 years, and has proven effective over that period, it is still not widely available across the country.

A 2011 Department of Justice Canada report found that Indigenous people who completed a community-based alternative to mainstream justice, such as restorative justice, were significantly less likely to re-offend than those who did not. I am committed to expanding this resource so it can be more widely used and accepted across the country.

Academic article: Extract:

The Australian National University and Australian Institute of Criminology were commissioned by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Justice and Community Safety Directorate to undertake an impact evaluation of the restorative justice conferencing program. There were two components to this evaluation.

The first involved the analysis of surveys of offenders, victims and their support persons conducted by the Restorative Justice (RJ) Unit following each conference.

The second involved using criminal history data provided by ACT Policing to conduct an analysis of reoffending among the 1,143 participants in restorative justice conferencing (RJC) compared with 4,668 young offenders dealt with at the same time through the normal process, whose criminal history had been tracked until September 2016.

 The purpose of the handbook is to provide more in-depth information about restorative justice for professionals working with offenders, ex-offenders, or people at risk of violent radicalisation and group violence. Restorative justice is not in opposition to current criminal justice practices, but complementary. It has proven to provide the justice system with alternative approaches that when implemented properly can increase victim satisfaction, reduce re-o ending, and increase community cohesion. Throughout the handbook, different aspects of violent radicalisation and restorative justice are presented, from a general introduction of the topic to example of trauma informed practice. This information is presented in six modules, each of which concludes with a brief quiz.

Dr. Howard Zehr, also known as the “grandfather of restorative justice,” has been documenting the impact of life sentences since the 1970s. Restorative justice is an approach to justice that focuses on collaboration and communication between the offender and the victim. His new book Still Doing Life: 22 Lifers, 25 Years Later, checks in with individuals serving life sentences in Pennsylvania. The book is a sequel to his 1996 work Doing Life, which introduces the individuals and shares their stories.

This initiative aims to transform Newcastle into a restorative city by building social cohesion and healthy communities. Newcastle has pockets of disadvantage in relation to unemployment, income, education, housing, child welfare, and criminal justice.

The School of Law and Justice is initiating change by working with a growing network of community partners to support the city’s proposed social and cultural transformation.

In the criminal justice system, it is anticipated that there will be less offending, decreased recidivism, increased rehabilitation of offenders, and greater victim and offender satisfaction with the process.

Additionally, members of the community will be provided with skills to effectively build relationships and resolve disputes, which aim to result in greater wellbeing, social coherence, and improved educational and social outcomes. Workplaces and organisations will have improved communication skills, improved productivity, and strengthened relationships.

As a result, Newcastle will become a happier and safer city, where residents can address harm and inappropriate behaviour.

'Myth 3: Restorative justice requires forgiveness and becoming friends with the offender.

Fact: The victim in a restorative program is not under any pressure or compulsion to forgive or reconcile with the offender. RJ simple engineers the process that helps the victim get answers to their toughest questions'

Although the place of forgiveness and reconciliation cannot be denied in several restorative processes, it is not the primary goal of any restorative process. RJ has come under so much heat because people often argue that any process that encourages becoming friends with an assailant should be discouraged.

However, RJ is a voluntary process where victims move at their pace and can decide whether or not to forgive the offender or become friends with them, and no restorative process forces reconciliation and forgiveness on the parties.

'From the streets of Minneapolis, the aboriginal lands of Australia, and the killing fields of Cambodia come the powerful stories of three people who had the courage to step out of the haunting, tragic darkness of the past, risking everything to reach the light of their own compassion. RISKING LIGHT is a thought-provoking documentary that explores resilience, and the painful process of moving from grief to compassion and forgiveness. Through the unforgettable stories of Mary Johnson, who grieves a murdered son; Debra Hocking, a victim of government-sanctioned genocide; and Kilong Ung, who survived the terror of the Khmer Rouge, RISKING LIGHT challenges us to examine our own beliefs about forgiveness and ask “What would the world look like if we could learn to forgive one another?”'

'Restorative justice is an internationally recognised evidence-based response to criminal behaviour. It views a criminal offence as more than an act of breaking the law and examines: the impact on society the harm caused to the victim, family relationships and the community. The restorative justice process requires effort and participation from the child, which differs from traditional justice responses.'

'We ultimately pulled our son from the district. I am a career educator and strong believer in public education. But I am a mom first. The school’s handling of my son’s torment and subsequently proposed solutions were unacceptable and there was not a chance I would keep my son in a school where their only way of protecting him was to change his schedule and dismiss him early. The “restorative” circle he sat in, bravely facing his aggressors, only made him a target for more torment. Now, don’t get me wrong. I still believe that restorative justice is a much-needed practice, but I can’t support the way it is being used as a consequence. If and when it’s implemented well, I’m on board. The reality is that theory and practice are very different things. My research of the theory convinced me that I should introduce restorative justice in my school, but my research on the practice in similar schools and districts had changed my mind. '

'Restorative Justice, is one aspect of criminal justice reform. Restorative justice is a theory that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by criminal behavior. It focuses on mediation and community building to provide a better understanding of how both the victim and offender were truly impacted by the incident. Community advocates of restorative justice can organize a meeting between the victim, offender, and/or other harmed community members to address all of the harms and have each party member decide together how to hold the offender accountable and restore the community again.'

'Keeping Them Connected: Restorative Justice in Schools in Australia and New Zealand – what progress? The traditional response of schools to school discipline is based on the retributive approach which has long characterised the criminal justice system. Research now indicates that this approach generally fails to satisfy the victim, the offender and the community. In the context of criminal offending, attention is increasingly being paid to the application of restorative practices. In New Zealand the restorative justice model has been operating since 1989 for youth offending and is now being implemented in the context of adult offending also. The Australian states and territories are following to varying degrees. Restorative practices move the focus from punishing the offender to requiring them to take responsibility for their actions. Because of this focus they are not seen as a ‘soft option’, and there are many indications of their success. Many schools are now applying this model to school discipline. A variety of different practices are being employed to keep young people in school and connected with the education process, while still not compromising school safety. This article explores the incorporation of restorative practices as alternative and proactive responses to behavioural problems within some Australian and New Zealand schools. The focus here is on particular restorative practices with the acknowledgement that there is a much wider picture which involves changes in school cultures to embrace, in a practical manner, principles of citizenship and democracy. This concept is the subject of significant research which is discussed by the author in a previous article.

'The Restorative Justice Project was first created in 1987 to serve victims and survivors in the aftermath of serious crimes. Through its victim-offender dialogue program the project offers the opportunity for victim survivors, and their relatives, to meet with and have questions answered by the individual who committed a crime against them. RJI is pleased to showcase the excellent work of the Restorative Justice Project under Jonathan Scharrer’s leadership. Law schools should follow the example of the University of Wisconsin Law School and consider creating similar restorative justice projects like this model project. We need more lawyers who understand the great value of restorative justice for victims, offenders and communities. The Restorative Justice Project is an affiliate member of RJI.'

'Ms. Blackwell, also a researcher at Facebook, had been toying with the idea of applying the principles of the restorative justice movement to online content moderation. Restorative justice is an alternative form of criminal justice that focuses on mediation. Often, an offender will meet with the victim and the broader community with a chance to make amends. The confrontation, advocates of the technique argue, helps the offender come to terms with the crime while giving the victim a chance to be heard. If the relationship is repaired and the harm to the victim reduced, the offender is allowed to re-enter the community. Studies, including one by the Department of Justice, suggest the approach can be an effective way to decrease repeat offenses and works for perpetrators and victims. '