Lizzie Nelson

Legislation introducing restorative justice for victims of adult offenders in England and Wales announced

Dan Van Ness — 2012-10-24T05:00:00Z

This is the biggest development for restorative justice in England and Wales since legislation introducing referral order panels to the youth justice system in 1999.

The Restorative Justice Council, with our partner organisations including the Prison Reform Trust and the Criminal Justice Alliance, has campaigned for legislation for over two years. Restorative justice at the pre-sentence stage formed half the cases in the Ministry of Justice/Shapland research. In addition to the well known findings in relation to victim benefits and reductions in re-offending, the research showed 72% of victims said that RJ came at ‘about the right time’, whilst 22% said they wished it had been offered to them sooner. The judiciary welcomed pre-sentence restorative justice as it provided them with additional information on which to base sentencing decisions.

A letter to The Times in April 2011 signed by 30 VIPs called for new legislation for pre-sentence restorative justice; hundreds of professionals and members of the public have also signed our online petition. Many RJC members joined the RJC in supporting the call for legislation through responding to the recent consultation. We are particularly grateful to members of the House of Lords who tirelessly put the case for legislation during debates on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

The RJC will work closely with the Ministry of Justice, the Magistrates Association and the Sentencing Council to ensure the legislation is implemented and that the judiciary receive guidance about which cases should be deferred for RJ to be offered (primarily cases with a personal victim and the offender has pleaded guilty); and how to factor participation in RJ in at point of sentence, based on the precedents already set in case law and international experience.

Read the whole announcement.

Prison Reform Trust poll finding: 88% support restorative justice after the riots

lnelson — 2011-10-17T05:00:00Z

These findings – the strength of public support for the principles of restorative justice – are hugely encouraging for all of us who work for restorative justice. For many years it was considered a fringe idea or activity, at the margins of criminal justice. For so many of the public to respond positively to the essential idea of victims being able to tell offenders the impact of their crime, and offenders to take responsibility and make amends, signals a very radical shift, and one that leaves criminal justice agencies, and the politicians, struggling to catch up with the public.

Why has this shift in public attitudes happened? For me three things stand out. First I think there is a growing awareness that our criminal justice system, in seeking to be objective, impartial, and impersonal, has missed the needs of victims, and the very personal impact of crime. Restorative justice, alongside and as part of criminal justice, provides that counterbalance – a place and process within which the real harm caused to individuals can be acknowledged and their story and experience given centre stage.

Second, and alongside this dissatisfaction with aspects of criminal justice, Professor Gerry Johnstone has drawn attention to a shift generally towards ‘therapy culture’ – a culture in which emotion and subjective experience is given a weight and value which previously wasn’t there. In today’s culture therefore, there’s scope for individual experience to matter, within a justice framework.

And thirdly, I need to pay tribute here to the people and organisations who have worked tirelessly for restorative justice, across many continents, for many years, voices in the wilderness pointing out how the world could look, long before wider public opinion had ever heard of restorative justice; and the bravery and honesty of individuals who have been prepared to speak in public about their experience of restorative justice, people like Jo Nodding, Mary Foley, and Will Riley and Peter Woolf and many others whose stories and voices have perhaps played the biggest part in shifting public understanding of why and how restorative justice works.

Practitioner Register launched in UK

Dan Van Ness — 2011-09-26T05:00:00Z

Practitioners are welcome to join us from any field, including education, workplace, criminal justice, or anywhere where restorative practice/processes are being offered. It is accessible both to volunteer and paid staff.

The register requires evidence of continuing professional development to maintain the registration. There is also an Associate category of membership available for practitioners who are new to the work.

We believe the register provides:

A national quality assurance framework for restorative practice, across agencies and sectors
Professional recognition for practitioners
Assurance for employers that their staff are working to national standards
And most importantly, visible quality assurance for the public – particularly victims or other individuals considering taking part in a restorative process, that the process they are being offered will be safe.

As we believe that the register is the first of its kind internationally, readers from outside the UK should feel free to contact the RJC for more information.

Lizzie Nelson is Director of the Restorative Justice Council.