Website of the Month: Restorative Justice Centre--South Africa

The Restorative Justice Centre of South Africa provides information, services, and research to further the development of Restorative Justice in South Africa. The Centre was founded in 1998 by two social workers  exposed to restorative justice principles through a family group conferencing pilot project sponsored by the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Young People at Risk. The Centre’s vision is to undertake similar projects to significantly impact the crime situation in South Africa. The results so far include the RJC’s commitment to research, education, training, sourcing funding for other RJ organizations, advocacy of the RJ paradigm and a number of projects at home in South Africa.

Broken into seven sections, the website provides information on the restorative justice movement within South Africa and internationally. The Just RJ section provides links to research done both nationally and internationally. The topics include 

• Balanced and Restorative Justice
• Conflict Resolution in Schools
• Family Group Conferencing
• South African Policy Documents that deal with restorative justice.

The Just Us section provides the history and vision of the Restorative Justice Centre. This section also provides a listing and brief description of current, completed, and future research and training projects conducted by the Centre. Such projects include

• Helping the Khayalami Metropolitan Council develop a restorative approach to abuse management
• Holding a restorative justice day workshop for the senior management of the Department of Correctional Services
• Providing services in developing a drama therapy diversion program and victim offender conferencing
• Developing a library containing Restorative Justice materials and research.

Other website features include resource links, a tool box for starting a non-profit in South Africa, and research reports.  

http://www.rjc.co.za/

September 2001