Power of One: Restorative justice couples victims with offenders

from the article on CTV.ca:

....A woman named Marité has been taking part in the process, not by facing her sexually-abusive father, but rather, another man who committed similar acts.

She said that results have helped her cope with the damage she suffered.

"For him it was like I was his daughter," said Marité. "And I was able also to express my anger to him and that's what he wanted rather than silence from his daughter."

"I can now go forward because I'm not bound to my father anymore. I can leave him go."

Jun 26, 2012 Story, Case:Burglary, Victim, Mediation, Policy, Other, Region: North America and Caribbean, Case:Sexual, Country:Canada

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Victim Support chief addresses restorative justice conference

from the organization's website:

Victim Support describes itself as "the independent charity for victims and witnesses of crime in England and Wales. We were set up 35 years ago and have grown to become the oldest and largest victims' organisation in the world. Every year, we contact over 1.5 million people after a crime to offer our help."

Speaking at the Restorative Justice Approaches conference on Thursday 27 January, Javed [Khan] said: “We have for many years supported restorative justice projects up and down the country. We know that one of the greatest benefits of restorative justice is to victims of crime and that satisfaction rates among victims are particularly high when it is victim led.”

Welcoming the government’s commitments to restorative justice he added: “I want to make sure that these are more than just warm words and that restorative justice becomes a right for every victim who wants it.”

Feb 17, 2011 Country:England&Wales, Victim, Mediation, Other, Region: Europe, Policy, Politics

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Response by Dr Martin Wright to European Commission consultation document: Taking action on rights, support and protection of victims of crime and violence

From the response by Dr. Martin Wright:

The key to this reply is in the last answer:  that in principle restorative justice practices should be available to all victims, subject only to the safeguards mentioned in the reply to Question 17.  Restorative processes are in the interests not only of victims, but also of offenders and the community.  

Victim-offender dialogue is valuable as an end in itself as well as a means to an end.  For many victims, action to make the offender less likely to re-offend is at least as high on their list of priorities as monetary compensation or reparation through work.  When the victim and offender agree on one of these methods of reparation, it is incumbent on the community to provide the resources to enable offenders to carry them out.  

Oct 01, 2010 Region:Europe, Support, Mediation, Correspondent:Martin Wright, Victim, Policy, Other

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