Victims' advocate says more energy should be invested in restitution programs
Aug 29, 2011
from Michael McKiernan's article on Legal Feeds:
Justice systems in the North should invest more energy in developing restitution processes that work, according to a leading Canadian victims’ advocate.
Irvin Waller, a professor at the University of Ottawa and the president of the International Organization for Victim Assistance, was a speaker at Justice for All: A Comparison of the Crime Victims’ Rights in the U.S. and Canada, put on by the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice section this morning.
“We know from the social science evidence that well-organized restorative justice, which includes restitution payments, not only increases victim satisfaction compared to the normal process, but secondly actually reduces recidivism,” Waller said. “There is a real opening here. It’s win-win all around for justice at times of austerity.”
Susan Chapman of Toronto’s Green & Chercover, said judges in Canada are reticent about granting restitution orders, in part because of the historical division between criminal and civil justice.
“There’s also the practical realty. If someone is getting four years in prison, they’re going to be hard-pressed to pay restitution,” Chapman said.
Waller cited changes to the French justice system, which give victims standing in criminal cases to seek restitution from the accused.
restitution to victims & restorative justice
But when restorative justice principles are applied in the best case scenario victims and offenders will have met, through victim offender dialogue or family group conferencing for instance, where a contractual agreement could be agreed upon. Those restitution payments could be made over time, perhaps quite a bit of time as agreed upon by the parties involved.
That's the beauty of restorative justice. It's balanced and it is fair.