Lessons Learned in the Collaborative Justice Project

Source: (-0001) Ottawa, Canada: Church Council on Justice and Corrections. Downloaded 24 January 2005.

The Collaborative Justice Project (CJP) is a demonstration project in the Judicial District of Ottawa-Carleton that began in September 1998. The aim of the project is to show how a restorative approach in cases of serious crime can deliver more satisfying justice to victims, offenders, and communities. It is an initiative of the Church Council on Justice and Corrections (CCJC), a Canadian coalition of faith-based individuals and churches advocating for a more humane way to practice criminal justice. This short document lists, with brief explanations, some chief lessons learned from the operation of the CJP. These lessons include, among others, the value of providing more information to victims, offenders, and communities; the need for much more public education about restorative justice; and a restorative model can work within the current justice system, however difficult it is to do so.