Martin Wright

Pastor Luis Ramos Román on Mediation in penal case reconciliation

I am an Executive Officer of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation of Puerto Rico and we need trainings for our staff in Conflicts Resolutions. [...]

Review: Regulating restorative justice: A comparative study of legislative provision in European countries

Reviewed by Martin Wright Many European countries have taken at least some steps towards incorporating restorative justice in their system, and this book assess how far some of them have gone in formalizing their progress in legislation. The countries represented are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom, and two neighbours, Israel and Turkey. Each chapter, after two introductory ones, follows a template giving a legal description and evaluation of restorative processes, and the political and legal understanding of victim-offender mediation and restorative justice. The list of nearly 40 subdivisions, combined with the analysis in the concluding chapter, are in themselves a useful outline of factors that need to be considered by anyone planning to introduce restorative justice or indeed to improve on measures already introduced. There is something to learn from most countries about how to introduce RJ, or in some cases how not to.

Review: A community-based approach to the reduction of sexual re-offending: circles of support and accountability

by Martin Wright Often sex offenders are isolated people who have difficulty making relationships, and when they come out of prison the double stigma of prison and the nature of their offence isolates them still more – an extra hardship for them, and an increased risk that they will revert to their previous behaviour. So the idea of forming a circle of support for them is both humane and a safeguard. It does not fall under the usual definition of restorative justice, because it does not include dialogue with the victim, which would in many cases be unwanted and/or inappropriate. It does however restore or even improve the situation of the offender, and it involves members of the community.

The curious Mr Howard: Legendary prison reformer

reviewed by Martin Wright Many adjectives could be applied to John Howard: methodical, persistent, even obsessive. 'Curious' in the title of this new biography is apt, meaning both 'unusual' and 'wanting to find out'. Tessa West has made full use of published and archival sources, some of them not available to previous biographers, to present an insightful and readable account of 'the Philanthropist', as he was known.

Restorative practices

A useful and relevant resource

Mediation in penal case reconciliation

reviewed by Martin Wright The idea of retribution for wrongdoing is deeply ingrained, and its extreme form is the blood feud or revenge killing. Professor Elezi describes the long struggle to eliminate it in one country. A Western reader, on learning that there are still blood feuds in parts of Albania, may dismiss them as a relic from more primitive times; but perhaps it is worth reflecting that the principle is still at work among gangs in our big cities and, some would say, in civil wars and international conflicts. So it is interesting to see how it has been tackled in Albania.

Restorative justice realities: research in a European context

reviewed by Martin Wright: Nine countries, nine ways of doing restorative justice, and several approaches to researching it. In order to describe the research, the authors also provide useful summaries of how restorative justice has been put into practice in Belgium, Norway, Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and England and Wales. Mostly these countries use victim-offender mediation, in some cases with a high proportion of indirect (shuttle) mediations; a few, including the Netherlands and Norway, have begun to experiment with conferencing. Perhaps the best way to indicate the book’s scope is to give examples of the information it contains, rather than attempt a summary.

RJ

Because we have a system that is known as the 'justice system', I understand that we probably need to differentiate Restorative Justice from mere 'justice'. [...]

The promise of restorative justice: New approaches for criminal justice and beyond

reviewed by Martin Wright It is becoming increasingly clear that the principles of restorative justice can be used, as the editors say, outside the formal criminal justice system, and this book bears witness to that. Half is about criminal justice, and half about other applications in schools and elsewhere. The contributors reflect the book’s origins among a group at Fresno Pacific University in California, but other chapters come from Bulgaria, Canada, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

thank you for the review

Thank you for Martin Wright's review. It is so important to have all restorative justice "works" reviewed and analysed. I respect Wright's point of view. [...]

Debating restorative justice

Chris Cunneen and Carolyn Hoyle. Debating restorative justice. Oxford and Portland, OR: Hart Publishing. 2010. 195 pp. £15.00 (ISBN 13: 9781849460224) reviewed by Martin Wright This is the first of a new series of law books, each containing two essays of about 30,000 words on different sides of a current debate. Carolyn Hoyle suggests that there is more talk than action, and some of the action called restorative is actually punitive, such as the community service performed in conspicuous clothes. In her discussion of communitarianism she regards community participation as the presence of supporters and others at a restorative conference, but does not refer to the involvement of independent voluntary-sector mediation services (and admittedly they are thin on the ground). She considers that communitarians go too far in rejecting the state. In her view restorative justice and criminal justice are complementary: courts are necessary if the accused doesn’t admit involvement. This is true; Hoyle does not exclude the use of prison for retribution, but surely in a fully restorative system the courts would impose reparative, not punitive, sanctions. She does not explore whether these should try to be proportionate to the offender’s culpability or the harm suffered by the victim.

RJ and autism

Coincidentally that came up in a workshop I was doing on Monday on RP. My answer had a few components (after I thought deeply) For [...]

RJ and autism

As it is many years since my RJ training and use of it, I can't provide an answer on potential modifications off the top of [...]

RJ and Autism

Nigel, Thank you for your great explanation of the issues involved in working with someone with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. I understand the issues about not [...]

Incompatability of RJ with autism

People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders score very low on tests of empathy quotients. Due to problems with 'Theory of Mind' and weak 'Central Coherence' they [...]

Autism and RJ

Nigel, Thank you for your note. I'm not aware of research in this area. Would you mind elaborating on why RJ and Autistic Spectrum Disorders [...]

Incompatability of RJ with autism

Nowhere in your website or in any literature about RJ is there mention of the fact that it cannot be used with persons with an [...]

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.

Not Just an Apology: Basic Wisdom

Thank you Martin Wright. Holding the space for these difficult discussions takes a tremendous amount of good sense and courage. It seems to me that [...]

Restorative justice is not just saying 'Sorry'

Martin Wright's letter to the editor that didn't get published: Mark Johnson’s critique gives a chance to correct some common misconceptions about restorative justice (‘Apologising to victims will not reduce reoffending rates’, SocietyGuardian, 18 August). It is not about dragging offenders to see their victims, telling them to say “sorry”, nor making them do menial tasks wearing conspicuous clothing. It does not humiliate offenders (provided it is done properly, of course); they are enabled to show that they can do something useful and be valued for it. It lets victims explain, and offenders understand, the damaging effects of their actions (and in some cases, such as fights, both have been at fault in some ways). Both are asked questions like ‘What happened?’ ‘Who was affected?’ ‘What do you think and feel about it?’ and ‘What needs to be done to make things better?’ Victims often ask for an apology and/or reparation, but what most of them want is answers to questions and action to make a repeat less likely. This could mean that the offender makes reparation by co-operating with whatever support he or she needs, programmes such as anger management, drug treatment or vocational skills.