This year’s International Restorative Justice Week takes place between 15 and 22 November, celebrating and raising awareness of restorative justice.
Key activities happening during this period are the Ministry of Justice’s campaign, I’ve got something to say, and the RJC’s annual conference.
The Ministry of Justice’s International Restorative Justice Week campaign seeks to increase general awareness and understanding of restorative justice and emphasise the benefits for victims.
Why Me?, the victims’ charity, has released a report into the barriers facing provision of restorative justice, and possible policy and practical solutions to overcome these barriers. The report identifies problems with data sharing and statutory obligations, poor public understanding and a lack of information provided to victims, the effects of transforming rehabilitation and the role of police forces and PCCs as the biggest barriers to increasing the delivery of restorative justice in England and Wales.
A decade or so ago I worked at the Fawcett Society, a charity that campaigns for gender equality, leading their work to improve the criminal justice system for women who offend. It was a topical issue – Baroness Corston was in the process of conducting her government-sponsored review on this issue – and there was an emerging political consensus that the justice system simply did not work well enough for women. It was broadly agreed that prison, and particularly short prison sentences, were overused, with serious effects on the women’s own wellbeing as well as that of their families.
Our AGM and annual conference are taking place on 18 November 2015 and for the first time the conference is open to a limited number of non-members.
The theme for this year's conference is Restorative justice - 2020 vision. It will explore how the restorative practice field could develop over the next five years.
RJC members are invited to join from 9.30am, but from 11.15am the event is open to all.
The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) has commissioned the Institute of Criminal Policy Research to map all restorative justice provision in the criminal justice system in England and Wales.
Restorative justice received widespread coverage yesterday when the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC Two featured a powerful interview with Laura, a child sexual abuse survivor who met her abuser in a restorative justice conference.
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire Restorative Justice and Mediation Service has become the first restorative police and crime commissioner hub to achieve the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM).
Susan is a restorative justice facilitator. When her bike was stolen, she was given the opportunity to experience a restorative justice conference from an entirely new perspective.
On Friday 9 October, the RJC hosted a sold-out event for the judiciary on restorative justice. With over 100 attendees, the conference demonstrated the benefits of restorative justice and encouraged the judiciary to increase its use.
