Restorative Justice

Restorative justice covers a range of practices aimed at addressing or repairing the harm caused by offending behaviour. These practices, which take place in criminal as well as non-criminal settings, usually involve the participation of the victim, offender and the community. Broadly speaking, a restorative justice process provides support for victims, as well as offering offenders the opportunity to take responsibility for their actions and make amends. Restorative justice, then, offers potential benefits for victims, offenders and the wider community.

Although they may vary in their approach and methodology, all restorative justice processes involve some form of communication between the person responsible for causing the harm and the person harmed. The most common forms are: conferences, face-to-face meetings, shuttle dialogue, family group conferences and justice circles. Whatever the approach, trained staff are on hand to facilitate the process. For more information on these and other forms of restorative justice, visit the Restorative Justice Scotland website.

In short, restorative justice aims to provide participants with a safe and structured environment in which to explore what happened, why and how it affected those involved. It also enables participants to identify what needs to be done to address the harm caused and prevent it from happening again.

There are a number of websites which you may find useful, including:  

European Forum of Restorative Justice

Restorative Practices Scotland

Sacro 

Restorative Justice Online (Prison Fellowship International)  

Centre for Restorative Justice (Simon Fraser University, British Columbia).  

The Home Office and National Institute of Justice (US Department of Justice) also provide some useful background information. 

The Centre has published two briefing papers on Restorative Justice, copies of which can be found here.

The Centre also holds a number of books on restorative justice, details of which can be found here.