4. In our response to Getting it Right for Victims and Witnesses the RJC expressed a concern that a right to ask for restorative justice subject to resources did not amount to a new entitlement for victims if it did not affect the response that victims are entitled to receive.7 The publication of the corresponding duties relating to the entitlements in the Victims Code provides some clarity with respect to how victims will be treated where a restorative service is available to them. We would welcome further clarity with respect to how victims will be treated where no restorative service is available locally – as this is still the experience for too many victims, particularly victims of adult offenders and victims of more serious offences.
5. In our experience victims have been poorly treated when requesting information about restorative justice from services who have little or no awareness about what restorative justice is, when it is suitable or whether it is available in their local area. Victims can be made to feel as though their request is odd, an inconvenience, misinformed or even immoral (for example where relatives of victims of homicide have made the request).
6. Amending the victim’s entitlement to ask for restorative justice (subject to it being available) to a right to be informed about the availability of restorative justice in their area would help address the poor treatment of victims who have requested access to restorative justice from the police.
7. We expect that the majority of police forces may already have received sufficient restorative justice awareness training to fulfill this duty. However, there is a need for the police to be supplied with accurate, up-to-date information about the availability of restorative justice in their local area and to be able to provide accurate information and signposting as to what is available for victims of more serious offences, at later stages of the CJS.
8. The availability of restorative justice is complex as it is affected by a range of considerations including the stage of the criminal justice system the request has been made, how the offence was handled by the justice system (ie whether or not the offence was prosecuted, and what type of sentence imposed) and the wide range of agencies potentially offering restorative justice services locally (including probation, prisons, youth offending teams, neighbourhood justice panels, charities, local mediation services, schools, local authorities, care-homes, housing associations). Therefore the police will need to understand exactly what is available in their area. The RJC provides an online ‘Restorative Services Map’ which could be a useful sign-posting tool for victims and the police.
We therefore propose that the entitlement to ask for restorative justice where it is available is amended to a right to be informed about the availability of restorative justice locally.
]]>Mr Barton pledged to give victims of crime “more of a voice” and said he would instruct his staff to make sure people were kept up-to-date with any future court proceedings after they had been victims of a crime.
]]>These inconsistencies and problems with terminology could damage the reputation of restorative justice, the report said, and lead to the perception of a 'postcode lottery'. Also, more should be done to involve victims and communities in the process. Keeping victims informed, empowered and up-to-date on the progress of their case is an essential element of 'what works' in restorative justice. However, the inspectorates found that this did not always happen.
]]>A decision is reached by consulting the victim and must be accepted by the offender. The result can be a verbal or written apology, financial compensation or repatriation or the offender receiving advice about their behaviour.
Mrs Gramann, however, is worried about more serious crimes being dealt with through community resolutions. In 2010/11, six were handed out for sexual offences and four for robbery.
....Superintendent Steve Cullen, West Mercia Police force leader on restorative justice, said he understood magistrates’ concerns. He explained: “The point to be made is we have done a lot of checks and balances.
“In a huge proportion of cases, it is young people involved, who can go on to have responsible lives as a result of not having a criminal record for a minor misdemeanour.”
Mrs Gramann said: “We have to stop reoffenders. Coming to court is more of a deterrent. When most people are in court they do find it intimidating because we have got powers to do all sorts of things.”
....Mrs Gramann said: “If it makes us more effective without compromising justice, then it is a good thing. It benefits the public purse, society and defendants.”
The magistrate said the court was under great financial pressure, with the number of courts sitting in Kidderminster having been reduced by a third since July, 2011.
]]>....For victims of crime, RJ helps produce an outcome they can control. It offers a choice; not all victims want to go to court but they do want their questions answered. Victim satisfaction levels are 96% for RJ interventions, where previously they were around 78%.
Currently some 3-4% of all crime across GMP is now dealt with in a restorative way with around 5,000 RJ interventions over the past year. For a new programme, this indicates very strong buy-in from officers.
Community groups have been very supportive of the RJ policy and are approaching GMP to see if they too can engage in the RJ process. It was unexpected that people would want to get involved and take on some of the work.
Relations between GMP and schools have also benefited. There are now more RJ interventions and fewer arrests of children of school age, police are invited to schools more often and some schools are willing to pay for a dedicated officer. The increased use of RJ also means fewer perpetrators of petty crimes, such as stealing sweets, end up with a criminal record yet they do subsequently change their behaviour for the better.
Many officers across GMP are now passionate about RJ. Analysis shows that re-offending levels are low, and officers describe the policy as “high impact”, “very powerful”, “it works” and that it is “a proven part of the toolkit”. One officer noted “I feel morally it’s the right thing to do. I haven’t always felt that”.
]]>"They patrol some very tough streets and I know some of them will be very jumpy about being asked to embrace a concept that is not as punitive as they are used to.
"They have some serious problems with gun crime and murders, so they have a very tough attitude to dealing with offenders.
"When I was first there, judges, police chiefs and district attorneys all said they thought restorative justice would work but politically it was never going to be accepted.
"Now, the situation has changed and there is a realisation that the old approach isn't solving the problems so it's time for something new.
"What I hope they will get is the results we have had here – greater victim satisfaction and reduced offending rates.
"Restorative justice is not a soft option. It is very hard to get someone to accept responsibility for what they have done."
]]>Sixteen months later, how is it faring? Sadly, not well.
....The restorative philosophy underpinning the Act is being undermined by a "war on crime" and a return to apartheid-style policing in the townships. Yet, seemingly in contradiction to this trend, as the bureaucratic wheels of the Act slowly turn, fewer young people under the age of 18 are being arrested.
Centre for Child Law director Ann Skelton, one of the drafters of the Bill, thought the legislation would bring a flood of children into restorative services, but it hasn't.
"What I'm picking up is uncertainty," she says. "Police, prosecutors and magistrates don't understand the Act and don't seem to know what to do. Police have the idea it means they shouldn't arrest children so they just wag their fingers in children's faces -- or worse -- and don't bring them in. So it may look good on paper that fewer kids are being booked but it means they're not going to be linked to services. The police were never intended as gatekeepers to the whole system."
....Another problem has been accreditation of diversion organisations. The Act was drafted in the knowledge that civil society had robust NGOs capable of delivering youth programmes. These simply needed to be accredited by the DSD and would be contracted to provide services.
Amid rising scepticism about "soft law" and concern for child rights, the DSD raised the bar so high that no organisations have been accredited. Applicants are issued with a Facilitators' Manual, a Participants' Manual and an Instruction Manual, with requirements Usiko director Saskia van Oosterhout describes as excessive. "There are so many boxes to tick and so much documentation required that I don't know any organisation that has a hope of compliance. Don't they want diversion services?"
....The Act requires the development of child justice courts, one-stop processing centres, victim-offender mediation and family group conferencing. Two one-stop centres were created in the country, but then the national budget for these ran out -- the one projected for Cape Town came with a R63-million price tag.
There are special child justice courts, though some are merely an office, and there are few in the countryside where magistrates and prosecutors are itinerant. Family group conferences, central to the restorative process, simply aren't happening.
]]>The results were so positive, neighboring police departments got wind of the experiment and became interested too.
By the time Larson Sawin was hired in 2008, Communities for Restorative Justice had 80 trained volunteers handling referrals from police departments in two communities northwest of Boston.
Three years later, volunteers now number 100, and 10 communities are in the mix – including the urban communities of Cambridge and Arlington – with more communities knocking on the door. Offenses now include violent crime, offenders with records, and adult-initiated offenses.
“More of our police partners understand that restorative justice must treat the victim’s needs as central. If the victim wants restorative justice, it shouldn’t matter if the offender is 16 or 60, or that he broke into someone else’s house last week and therefore has a rap sheet,” explains Larson Sawin.
As an example of a successful case, Larson Sawin told of a swastika spray-painted on the side of a school building. The community wondered if there was a sleeper cell of neo-Nazis lurking about. When the young men responsible were caught, they agreed to participate in a circle process with members of the synagogue. They heard stories of childhood years spent in Nazi Germany and about all those who perished under that symbol. This encounter proved transformational for the young men.
As for the future, “we’ve got miles to go,” says Larson Sawin. “Any theory of change must include ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ strategies. While more communities are embracing this approach, we’re working towards statewide legislation. With folks like Chief Wetherbee in our corner, I know we’ll get there.”
]]>The report said mediators had operated informally, bringing offenders and victims together to repair their differences, often in areas formerly dominated by republican or loyalist paramilitaries.
"CRJI has become an important part of the voluntary and community sector landscape in parts of Northern Ireland and are integrating their activities as part of local community safety networks", Brendan McGuigan of the CJI added.
]]>....The Innocence Project estimates that, of the 254 men cleared using DNA evidence, almost 25 percent gave false confessions.
This can and does happen in America. Not surprisingly, Taylor believes Burge learned his techniques after being imprisoned in a POW camp in Vietnam.
...."So there has to be an understanding that what we're dealing with here is a microcosm of what's going on and isn't going on nationally, in terms of prosecutions, in terms of restorative justice, in terms of dealing with the victims and the survivors of torture, and compelling the court system and the powers that be to deal responsibly and thoroughly and in a just manner with the whole scope of torture as an issue, both nationally and locally," Taylor said.
]]>Dear New York Times Magazine Editor:
Having been a defense and prosecuting attorney, and health educator designing programs to help victims heal, and offenders desist from crime, I appreciated ethicist Randy Cohen’s advice for the restaurant manager to not call the police on the defrauding server. Sorry the manager ignored it, and that he didn’t seek a restorative justice intervention....
]]>"It comes down to the fact that individual chief constables decide what they will put into force."
Lawson noted that some chief constables are "great proponents" of restorative justice and have the ability to get an entire police force enthusiastic about its use, but others are not.
However, the existing system of recording results can impact on the willingness to use restorative justice since it does not count as a "detection".
"The issue is getting the message out to the wider public and police forces that restorative justice does produce results," he added.
]]>