The RJC’s sold-out event Enabling quality restorative justice in youth offending teams (YOTs) had 100 attendees and many more watching the live streaming, demonstrating the strong support for restorative justice among youth justice professionals.
This week marks the first anniversary of the launch of the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM).
Fourteen organisations, from a range of sectors, received the RSQM during its first year and a steady growth in applications shows that the RSQM is gaining momentum. Awardees include youth offending teams, schools, a prison, mediation services and a secure children’s home.
The RJC awards the RSQM to organisations that demonstrate that they are meeting the six nationally recognised Restorative Service Standards.
The RJC is pleased to announce that the results of the consultation on the Competency Framework and Training Approval Scheme have been published. We received a total of 112 consultation responses which we are using to inform the development of these two projects. Many experienced practitioners and trainers took part in the consultation process.
The Restorative Justice Council (RJC) has published an information pack on restorative justice in youth offending teams (YOTs). The information pack is intended to support YOTs in making greater use of restorative approaches.
Thirty three key decision-makers within the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales have observed a face to face restorative conference as part of Why me?’s Observer Programme.
Sir Alan Beith MP, Chair of the Justice Select Committee, Shadow Justice Minister, Sadiq Khan, Judge Ford from Bristol Crown Court , Richard Monkhouse JP, Chair of the Magistrates Association and London Deputy Mayor, Stephen Greenhalgh are among those who have taken part in the scheme.
The RJC has had overwhelming support for its restorative justice champions initiative. The aim of the initiative is to increase the understanding of restorative justice by key commentators and decision makers to help promote the development and benefits across different sectors.
The RJC, supported by the Ministry of Justice, planned to recruit and develop a minimum of 30 active restorative justice champions to provide comments and contributions to debates, practice improvement and innovation.
In a speech on Liberal Democrat justice policy today, the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has committed the Liberal Democrats to supporting more use of restorative justice in care homes. He said that the Liberal Democrats: “Will do more to promote restorative justice for children raised in care, so they are not dragged into the criminal justice system for behaviour that, for other children, would have been dealt with within the family home.”
Responding to the speech, Jon Collins, chief executive officer of the Restorative Justice Council, said:
The RJC welcomes the recommendations of the report with a strong focus on the perspective of victims when using restorative justice.
With evidence showing 85% of victims feeling satisfied with restorative justice the RJC would like to see restorative justice implemented across the criminal justice system.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has announced the members of its new Experts in Restorative Justice Group. The Group will inform the government’s policies and activities in relation to restorative justice in England and Wales.
In November 2014, the MoJ invited applications from stakeholders interested in being members of the Experts in Restorative Justice Group. A total of 45 expressions of interest were received before being narrowed down to a group of 18:
On March 3, the BBC One series The Gift featured a restorative justice conference in which an ex-offender met one of the victims of a series of armed robberies he had been involved in.
Following some concerns expressed about this programme, the RJC is pleased to have been invited to take part in a review of this episode of The Gift with the programme makers and those involved in the case that was featured. This will be an opportunity to discuss the coverage of restorative justice cases in the media in the future.
