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Attitudes of Victims and Offenders toward Restorative Justice

A June 2007 report from the Ministry of Justice in the UK reports the attitudes of victims and offenders participating in three different restorative justice schemes from 2001-2004. The evaluation shows that the majority of victims and offenders found the restorative justice process satisfactory, with communication being listed as one of the most important elements of the process.

Balahur, Doina. Romanian juvenile justice system towards its way to restorative practices.

The practice of VOM in Romania has been experimentally undertaken in Bucharest and Craiova. The two experimental centres have been set up in 2002 based on the partnership between the Department of Reintegration from Romanian Ministry of Justice, Centre for Legal Resources and the Foundation Family and Child Care. The technical assistance has been provided by the experts of DFID from UK. According to the aims and objectives of the VOM experiment only those types of crimes have been selected which are based on the criminal complain of the victim (battering, assault and other crimes against the person, insult etc). The persons - victims and young offenders - have been integrated based on their voluntary consent. (excerpt)

Beckett, Helen and O'Mahony, David and Doak, Jonathan and O'Mahony, David and Campbell, Catriona and O'Mahony, David and Jackson, John and Campbell, Catriona and Doak, Jonathan and O'Mahony, David. Interim Evaluation of the Northern Ireland Youth Conferencing Scheme

This bulletin presents the interim findings of an evaluation of the recently introduced Northern Ireland youth conferencing initiative. The findings are based on research conducted by the Institute of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Queen's University, Belfast and focus on the functioning of the scheme in the early months of its operation, from its inception on the 1st December 2003 until the 31st August 2004. (excerpt)

Bitel, Mark. Preliminary Findings from the Evaluation of Restorative Justice in Schools.

The preliminary evidence from the pupil surveys does not show clear effects between the schools which are in the pilot (programme schools) and the comparator schools (nonprogramme schools). However, when comparing the pre- and post-intervention surveys in schools that have implemented restorative practices to a significant degree, there are clear trends that suggest that restorative practices are having a significant effect. (excerpt)

Blackburn, Maddie. Report on: Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service

The Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service operates across a large county. It is one of the largest youth offending services inspected in the first phase of the inspection program conducted by the Healthcare Commission and other agencies of the national government. The first several years after implementation of the national youth justice reforms in April 2000 have seen significant changes. Youth offending teams (YOT) have been established across England and Wales; new orders and interventions have been introduced; a common assessment system has been developed; and more emphasis has been given to a range of approaches, including prevention, restorative justice, and victim services. This then is the first full inspection in the context of these changes. This report covers the following aspects of the Oxfordshire Youth Offending Service: management and partnership arrangements; children and young people who offend or who are at risk; work with parents and caregivers; and work with victims.

Botchkovar, Ekaterina V. and Tittle, Charles R.. Crime, Shame, and Reintegration in Russia

The article begins with an extensive examination of shaming theory and prior research relating to it. Braithwaite’s shaming theory posits that reintegrative shaming inhibits future misbehavior and that those who participate in the shaming process are less likely to misbehave in the first place. Based on this examination, the authors hypothesize that: 1) participation in shaming is negatively associated with misbehavior; 2) having been reintegratively shamed is negatively associated with misbehavior; and 3) stigmatizing experience is positively associated with future misconduct. Four subsidiary hypotheses were also examined. Data were collected from interviews conducted in July and August 2002 with 224 Russian citizens, of which 70 percent were women. Dependent variables measured were the chance of personally committing one of four specific offenses; independent variables were participating in gossip, being reintegratively shamed, and being disintegratively shamed. Analyses of the data resulted in mixed evidence about shaming theory. The results suggest that contrary to the contention that reintegrative shaming would have a positive effect while disintegrative shaming would have a negative effect, the results provide evidence that shaming of any kind, whether reintegrative or disintegrative, may have negative consequences. The findings also show that participating in gossip is unrelated to future deviance and that guilt or fear of losing respect for others for potential misbehavior do not seem to be related to past shaming experiences nor do they mediate supposed relationships between past shaming experiences and misconduct. These findings, along with previous research, suggest that shaming theory may need further refinement. Study limitations are discussed. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov.

Brignell, Georgia and Smart, Jane and Lawrie, Rowena and Brignell, Georgia and Potas, Ivan and Lawrie, Rowena and Thomas, Brendan and Brignell, Georgia and Smart, Jane and Potas, Ivan. Circle Sentencing in New South Wales: A Review and Evaluation

Part 1 presents the background and concept of circle sentencing. The process involves community members and offenders coming together to discuss the offense, the offender, and the consequences of the offense. The goal is to jointly arrive at an appropriate sentence for the offender. This justice process enjoyed success in Canada, spurring officials in New South Wales to adapt the process for use with Australian Aboriginal communities. A pilot circle sentencing initiative was undertaken at Nowra beginning in February 2002. The pilot program had 13 offender participants: 11 male and 2 female offenders. Part 2 reviews the circle sentencing procedures used in Nowra. Eight case examples of circle sentencing proceedings are presented throughout part 2 in order to demonstrate its practice. The case studies describe the circumstances of the offense, the proceedings, the sentence, and the progress reports at follow-up. Part 3 presents program evaluation results for the first 12 months of the programxe2x80x99s operation. Participants in circle sentencing were surveyed throughout 2002. Surveys were completed by community members, defense solicitors, police, prosecutors, the magistrate, defendants, and victims. The evaluation indicates that circle sentencing in Nowra has been effective in many ways. This type of justice model has been effective at reducing barriers between the courts and Aboriginal people; raising the level of support for Aboriginal people; incorporating victim support; empowering the Aboriginal community; offering relevant sentencing options with community support; and reducing recidivism. Part 4 assesses the role of circle sentencing in New South Wales given the success of the first circle sentencing pilot program. Given the positive results of the program, the only deficit discovered was the time commitment required to process an offender through circle sentencing. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.

Campbell, Catriona and O'Mahony, David. Mainstreaming Restorative Justice for Young Offenders through Youth Conferencing - the experience of Northern Ireland

The youth justice system in Northern Ireland is quite distinct and different to that in the rest of the United Kingdom or Ireland. It has also evolved considerably in the past ten to fifteen years and there have been very significant changes to its whole philosophy and operation as recently as 2003, with the introduction of a Youth Conferencing Service. The Conferencing Service now deals with young offenders using an approach based around the principles of restorative justice and the very process and structure of the system has changed to incorporate this new approach (detailed below). This paper looks at crime and how the criminal justice system in Northern Ireland deals with young people who have offended. It examines what is known about youth offending in general and looks specifically at a number of innovative approaches to criminal justice practice. The police response to youth offending is examined and their specialist teams of officers who deal with young offenders. The courts and sentencing are then looked at with attention being placed on the new arrangements for holding children in custody. The range of measures introduced following the Criminal Justice Review are then examined, and specifically the youth conferencing arrangements, which adopt a restorative justice model to deal with young offenders. The paper draws to a close with a critical overview of the major changes in our system of youth justice and the possible lessons that can be learnt from an international perspective. (excerpt)

Curry, Devinder and Knight, Victoria and Williams, Brian and Knight, Victoria and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Knight, Victoria and Semenchuk, Mike and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Williams, Brian and Semenchuk, Mike and Patel, Sunita and Owens-Rawle, Derek and Knight, Victoria and Williams, Brian. Restorative Justice in the Juvenile Secure Estate

This research was funded by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales in order to establish the scope of restorative work currently being undertaken within custodial and secure establishments, and to identify and disseminate good practice. It was undertaken by the Community and Criminal Justice Division at De Montfort University, Leicester between 2002 and 2003. The full report describes the use of a range of restorative interventions in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs), Local Authority Secure Units (LASUs)1 and Secure Training Centres (STCs) (collectively known as the juvenile secure estate). The research aimed to establish the extent to which restorative justice influences the regimes and programmes in secure institutions, as well as to identify good practice that might usefully be replicated elsewhere. (excerpt)

Edgar, Kimmett and Bowen, Gillian and Bitel, Mark and Bowen, Gillian and Thurlow, Jane and Bitel, Mark. The evaluation of the Lambeth Restorative Justice Conference Pilot Project in Schools.

In May 2000, the Youth Justice Board in England initiated a plan to test, in two schools in Lambeth, restorative justice approaches in response to robbery and bullying in school settings. This was part of the Board’s overall exploration of interventions that might reduce youth crime. The project was devised in partnership with the Metropolitan Police in Lambeth. To evaluate the project, the Youth Justice Board engaged Partners in Evaluation and the Oxford Centre for Criminological Research. The evaluation, reported in this document, reviewed a number of key areas: levels of victimization, bullying, and robbery in the two schools; means for introducing restorative justice approaches in the schools; satisfaction of participants (victims and offenders) in the schools’ restorative justice conferences; short-term and long-term effects of the conferences on participants; and the larger effects of conferences, if any, on the nature and frequency of acts of victimization in the two schools. This paper presents research findings and analysis in these key areas, as well as a number of recommendations to enhance the use of restorative justice conferences in school settings. Additionally, several appendices provide further information on the study methodology, data-gathering, and research instruments.

Feasey, Simon and Williams, Patrick and Clarke, Rebecca and Williams, Patrick. An Evaluation of the Prison Fellowship Sycamore Tree Programme: based on a statistical analysis of Crime Pics II data.

Within the context of the Sycamore Tree Programme, the questionnaire has been used as an evaluative measure, assessing at both the pre and post programme stages. In doing so a difference measure can be calculated that looks at the degree of change from before to after the programme and therefore can be used to inform about programme impact/effectiveness. Central to the Sycamore Tree programme is the victim empathy area. In this regard, analysis of the V (victim empathy) scale is crucial in terms of evaluating the effectiveness of the Sycamore programme for its participants. (excerpt)

Ghetti, Simona and Mestitz, Anna. What do prosecutors and judges think about victim-offender mediation with juvenile offenders? (What do Italian judges and prosecutors think about victim-offender mediation?)

In Italy VOM has been experimented mainly within the juvenile justice system since the early 90s. Juvenile magistrates (public prosecutors and judges) may dispose for VOM as a part of the criminal proceeding. In our previous research (Mestitz & Ghetti, 2002) we documented that juvenile magistrates were directly involved in the promotion and creation of 6 of the 9 Mediation centres existing in Italy at the time of the research. Considering that juvenile prosecutors and judges are the only professionals who can dispose for mediation, and they seem to have a central role in ensuring the very existence of VOM in Italy, we may expect that in those jurisdictions in which VOM centres exist, mediation is attempted in a sizeable percentage of cases. Instead, when we examined the proportion of juvenile crimes reported to the authorities in the jurisdiction in which VOM centre is available, we found that mediation is attempted in a very small percentage of cases (e.g., 8% in 2000). Thus, we wondered whether despite the initial enthusiasm and/or support, there is now some attitudinal resistance to rely on mediation. (excerpt)

Hartmann, Arthur and Kerner, Hans-Jürgen. Victim-Offender Mediation in Germany

In this article, Arthur Hartmann and Hans-Jürgen Kerner report on the history and current status of victim-offender mediation (VOM) in Germany. The practical implementation of victim-offender mediation in Germany began in 1985 with a few experimental projects concentrating on juveniles or adolescents. In the next decade there was a rapid rise in the number of new VOM projects. However, most of them had only a small caseload. At the same time that VOM developed in practice, a legal framework for VOM in Germany was enacted. Against this background, the authors provide key statistics on VOM in Germany with respect to numbers and types of cases, acceptance among victims and offenders, practices or processes, content of VOM agreements, and outcomes.

Hartmann, Arthur. Victim-Offender Reconciliation: Program and Outcomes

This report presents results of research conducted on two victim-offender reconciliation (VOR) projects in Germany. The research considered two programmatic problems. First, that only a part of the suitable cases was selected for VOR. Second, there were no indications that VOR is being misused as a means to widen the net of social control. The level of acceptance among victims and offenders proved to be high though for apparently different reasons between projects. The author calls for more research.

Hauber, A. R. A Dutch Perspective on Some of the Effects of Alternative Sanctions

A report describes development of the HALT diversion program for juvenile vandals in the Netherlands. Criteria for admission to the program were developed after analysis of interviews with a sample of 550 youths arrested for vandalism. The low-vandalistic group (LVG) accounted for 76% and the high-vandalistic group (HVG) for 24% of the sample. The LVG group should be punished, given 1 or 2 consultations, and required to repair the damage they have caused. The HVG group needs an individualized approach responsive to their many problems.

Henriksen, Claus Syberg. Victim-Offender Mediation in Denmark: English summary of the evaluation - carried out by CASA (the Centre of Social Analysis)

A victim-offender mediation experiment has now been going on for 4 years in Ringsted, Roskilde, and Glostrup police districts. In victim-offender mediation the victim and the offender in minor criminal cases meet voluntarily face to face to talk about what has happened. It is prerequisite that the perpetrator admits his guilt. The aim of victim-offender mediation is to give the victims the opportunity - by meeting the offender - of dealing with their fear, frustration, and irritation; feelings that may be related to the experience of being the victim of a crime. The aim for the perpetrator is to give him a sense of responsibility and is thus a crime preventive perspective. Victim-offender mediation is led by a neutral mediator. At the outset, police caseworkers ask offenders and victims if they are interested in taking part in victim-offender mediation. If both parties say yes, the cases are sent on to the mediators, who then talk to the interested victims and perpetrators and tell them more about the process and maybe make an appointment for mediation. CASA (the Centre for Alternative Social Analysis) has followed the experiment during all 4 years and this is the final evaluation. The evaluation is primarily based on questionnaires and interviews with victims and perpetrators. (Questionnaires from 57% of all participants - 61% of the victims have answered, and 54% of the perpetrators). Moreover, material has been collected from the police's and the mediators' visitation. Furthermore, some caseworkers from the police, the Chief Constables in the three police districts, and the mediators have been interviewed. CASA has participated in a number of meetings in the three police districts. (excerpt)

Holdaway, Simon and Desborough, Sonia. National Evaluation of the Youth Justice Board's Final Warning Projects

Under the Final Warning provisions, if a juvenile's first offense is within a prescribed range of severity, he/she receives a Final Warning, which is delivered by a police officer in the presence of parents or a responsible adult. Police then refer the juvenile to a Youth Offending Team (YOT) for assessment and placement in a suitable intervention program. Failure to comply with defined elements of the program is citeable in court if the juvenile reoffends. Soon after the Final Warning scheme was launched, the Youth Justice Board (YJB) established a development fund, inviting bids to establish a range of interventions for youth, including those linked to the Final Warning scheme. This report pertains to an evaluation of 30 YJB-funded development projects that sought to establish Final Warning intervention programs. The projects spanned a range of interventions based on restorative justice, educational and career advice, mentoring, and drug and alcohol treatment. Using a questionnaire, data were collected from YOTs and program staff; and 91 interviews were conducted with participants in 21 Final Warning cases sampled from 18 projects. A total of 708 juvenile offenders were included in the sample. The evaluation determined that few of the YOTs that received YJB funds were ready to develop and implement their plans. For various reasons, intervention programs and other aspects of the Final Warning were not a priority. Still, there was evidence of good practice when systematic, coordinated planning was involved. Improvement requires thorough planning for the delivery of warnings, an empirically based assessment of offenders, and the design and delivery of programs tailored to assessments. Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov.

Introducing Restorative Practices into Scottish Schools

In 2004, the Scottish Executive allocated funding for a 30-month pilot project to introduce restorative practices into schools in three Local Authorities. An August 2007 evaluation report outlines the implementation process for the different areas and the progress made in establishing restorative practices in the school.

Involving Victims in Restorative Youth Justice in England through Youth Offender Panels

Youth Offender Panels in England and Wales seek to hold young offenders accountable for their behaviour while involving victims in the process. A recent evaluation of the programme in Leeds found a positive impact on both victims and offenders. In this article, Adam Crawford, one of the researchers, summarizes the findings.

Kruissink, M and Verwers, C. Diversion of Shoplifters in the Halt Procedure: Evaluation of a Rotterdam Experiment

A study evaluates an experimental program to reduce shoplifting in Rotterdam, NETH. The program offers juvenile shoplifters referred by police the opportunity to avoid prosecution if they work satisfactorily for the injured party. It is an extension of the popular Halt program for vandalism. Of 153 juvenile shoplifters referred to the project, 143 were diverted. In almost all cases, the offender's work took place in the shops where they had been caught. The storekeepers were cooperative and their experiences with the youths were positive. Diverted juveniles tended to show a stronger reduction in shoplifting than a control group, although the results were tentative due to limitations in the study.