About restorative justice
Jul 07, 2010
from the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Department of Justice and Community Security:
Restorative justice (RJ) is a structured process that allows the exchange of information between the people most affected by an offence – the victim, their family and friends and the offender and their family and friends. This process gives people the opportunity to talk about three very important questions:
- What happened?
- How were people affected?
- What needs to be done to make things better?
These exchanges can take the form of face-to-face meetings or by indirect methods such as third party mediation, taped recordings or letter exchanges. These exchanges of information are called conferences.
RJ is a community based response to crime that emphasises the consequences of an offence and holds the offender responsible for an act of wrongdoing. It focuses on the personal involvement of the offenders, victims and the community.
It is a process that allows victims to:
- gain an understanding of the circumstances of the offence;
- have a voice in describing the impact of the offence; and
- to identify what they need to makes things better.
