What is it? A commonly accepted definition used internationally is:
Restorative Justice is a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future.
What is it for? The primary objectives of Restorative Justice are:
· to attend fully to victims’ needs – material, financial, emotional and social (including those personally close to the victim who may be similarly affected)
· to prevent re–offending by reintegrating offenders into the community
· to enable offenders to assume active responsibility for their actions
· recreate a working community that supports the rehabilitation of offenders and victims and is active in preventing crime
· to provide a means of avoiding escalation of legal justice and the associated costs and delays.
Why is it called Restorative Justice? Restorative Justice is centrally concerned with restoration: restoration of the victim, restoration of the offender to a law - abiding life, restoration of the damage caused by crime to the community. Restoration is not solely backward-looking; it is equally, if not more, concerned with the construction of a better society in the present and the future.
Other terms have been used to refer to basically identical ideas: Relational Justice and Positive Justice. The term Restorative Justice is not inherently better than any of the alternatives, but it has the longest history, is the internationally accepted term, and is the most commonly known in this country.
Some people may conceive of Restorative Justice as applicable only to minor offences, which, if it were so, would be a major limitation. Again, practice has shown that there may be even more to gain by working in this way with serious crimes, especially in terms of victim benefits, but also in terms of prevention. Such practice would normally take place alongside criminal justice rather than as a replacement for it.
S.A.M.M. Restorative justice for relatives of Murder and Manslaughter has not been used yet in the UK but is being considered. Asking trustees demonstrated that there are strongly held views - some for and some against! SAMM would like to know whether our members think this is a good idea or not so that we can give feedback to government on your views. Please respond either in writing or by
e-mail to the office so that this can be done. Contact details for the office are at the foot of this page. We look forward to hearing your views. In your correspondence, we do not need details of the crime but would find it useful to know the year of the crime. For those who would like to participate in the Restorative Justice process, there is of course no reason to suppose that this will happen at all or in the near future, but it may! IF it were to happen, then initially there would be a pilot study.
Avril Sanders Royle
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