Source: (2012) Issue paper no. 77. Crime and Justice Statistics Bureau Brief. NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
There was widespread support for restorative justice initiatives. Most respondents agreed that offenders’
sentences should include unpaid work in the community (85.9%); and that victims should be given the opportunity
to inform offenders of the harm caused (87.3%), and have a say in how the offender can make amends for that harm
(73.8%). While the restorative justice initiatives of ‘making amends to victims’ and ‘unpaid work in the community’,
were viewed as less effective in preventing crime and disorder compared to ‘better supervision of young people
by parents’ or ‘better mental health care’, they were viewed as more effective than receiving ‘a prison sentence’.
Women, regional dwellers, those with lower educational attainment, crime victims and those displaying more
punitive attitudes tended to be more supportive of restorative justice principles. (Excerpt)
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