Restorative Justice: Is the Message Getting Through?

When these themes emerge in Albert Square I get the feeling the message is getting through.

In EastEnders, it was the victim driving the meeting – it was on Kat’s terms and focused around her suffering as the victim.

For my charity, Victim Support, that is a crucial point.

Restorative justice must be focused around the victim and not simply a means of making offenders feel better about themselves. Only by listening to the victim and addressing their needs can a criminal truly understand the impact of their crime, and that in turn increases the chances of them not re-offending.

Done properly it can help victims and cut crime, so at Victim Support we have no hesitation in taking part in it.

With partners, we are already running schemes across the country with police and prisons and have plans to pilot more through crown courts later this year.

Just this week burglary victims in Gloucestershire spoke positively of meeting their offenders and telling them about the impact the break-ins had on them and, particularly, their children.

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