Martin Wright was an early advocate for restorative justice in the UK and Europe, and continues to provide leadership there and abroad.  He has written three books, the most recent of which is Restoring Respect for Justice: A Symposium (Waterside Press, Winchester UK, 1999).  He also co-edited an anthology on restorative justice, and has written a number of articles and papers on various aspects of restorative justice.

Martin's work is not confined to writing.  He has been Director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, Policy Officer of Victim Support, and Librarian of the Cambridge Institute of Criminology.  He was a founding member of Mediation UK, and more recently of the European Forum on Mediation and Restorative Justice.  He acts as a voluntary mediator in the Lambeth mediation Service, London.  He is currently Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Legal Studies, University of Sussex.

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Important Idea:

The aim of justice is to provide victims and offenders with space and time to use in any restorative way they wish. 

Justice should help victims feel better. The extent to which it does this can be easily measured by simply asking them, something the conventional justice system seldom if ever does. 

Justice must serve the interests of the community as well. The offender should be held accountable for the harm done to the victim and hence to the safety and stability of the community.  The extent to which this happens is harder to assess. Indirect indicators are the number of apologies and agreements and the fulfillment of those agreements. 

Justice must deal fairly with offenders. The ideal in a democracy is for people to respect the law and not merely fear it. Therefore, fair treatment is an appropriate criterion, which can also be measured by asking offenders whether they received it. 

Justice must seek reintegration of offenders into the community. This can can be gauged by such factors as whether they have a home, obtain work, are part of a social or recreational network, and do not re-offend.

(Adapted from Restoring Respect for Justice: A Symposium, pages 188-189)

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Leading Edge.  One of Martin's current interests has to do with  respect.  If society does not demonstrate respect for an offender, then it is unlikely that offender will show respect to people and property in the future.  If society fails to show respect to crime victims, then the injury they have received at the hand of an offender will be intensified in the criminal justice process.

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Reach Martin Wright at m-w@dircon.co.uk.

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