Restorative Justice and the Media: Getting the Message Across

Source: (2003) Paper presented at ‘Building a Global Alliance for Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment’. The Fourth International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices. 28-30 August 2003 Veldhoven, Netherlands NH Koningshof Hotel.

Restorative justice is a notoriously difficult subject to communicate to the public through the media due to its complexity, its unusualness and the adversarial and punitive ethos of the traditional legal and journalistic culture. This session will outline the lessons that have been learned—what works with the media and what does not—from the U.K. experience over the past eight years, lessons that will have relevance for practitioners from all countries. Charles Pollard has been involved with promoting RJ in the media since Thames Valley Police under his leadership pioneered the use of restorative justice approaches for young offenders in 1994. Since leaving the police he has set up a national press/media post, together with a media communication network, to improve the presentation of RJ and its principles in the press, radio and television.