In June 2008, the Ministry of Justice released its final report into the Restorative Justice trials that began in 2001.
The concluding report covers the results of the research regarding the impact of RJ on reconviction rates as well as how cost effective the intervention is.
This 2009 research draws on four years of data from three restorative justice services in Scotland to explore the factors associated with service user participation, agreement rates, the use of direct or indirect restorative processes, and different forms of reparation.
Among other things, the results show that participation is more likely if the accused is contacted before the victim, if the alleged offence involves vandalism, and if the accused is male or young or does not have a recorded history of offending.
In 2009, an independent evaluation was carried out on the impact of Restorative Solutions' Restorative Approaches in Schools (RAiS) programme in Bristol.
This evaluation presents evidence for restorative approaches improving attendance and exclusion rates. The report suggests that RAiS works best within a 'whole school approach'.
This 2009 independent expert analysis of the economic benefits of restorative justice revealed that restorative justice would likely lead to a net benefit of over £1 billion over 10 years.
The report concluded that diverting young offenders from community orders to a pre-court restorative justice conferencing scheme would produce a lifetime saving to society of almost £275 million (£7,050 per offender).
The cost of implementing the scheme would be paid back in the first year and during the course of two parliaments (10 years) society would benefit by over £1 billion.
Restorative Justice and Domestic Violence/Abuse (2008, updated April 2010) is a report commissioned by Cardiff Prison to look into increasing the effectiveness of their Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside (SORI) programme with domestic violence perpetrators.
Many women’s organisations believe that restorative justice has no application to domestic violence, and that victim-offender mediation can only be dangerous for victims. This view is echoed by the British government.
This 2010 report by the NSPCC evaluated Hertfordshire County Council’s introduction of restorative justice in its young people’s residential units.
The report found that police were called out fewer times following the implementation of restorative practices.
The NSPCC recommends that residential units should continue to implement restorative ways of working, as they have many positive benefits for staff and residents.
The report also raised issues about the use of restorative justice with bullying.
In 2009 the International Institute for Restorative Practices put together this summary of findings from schools implementing restorative practices in the UK, Canada and the US.
The findings show evidence of restorative practices' effectiveness in tackling disruptive behaviour and building positive school environments.
In the New Zealand criminal justice system, restorative justice is primarily delivered through a meeting between the victim and the offender called a restorative justice conference. Currently, the Ministry of Justice provides funding for about 1,500 conferences per year.
Community (or Neighbourhood) Justice Panels are an innovative community-based model of restorative justice being used in Sheffield, Somerset and Manchester. This 2010 report by Sheffield Hallam University compares the effectiveness and cost of community mediation with interventions by statutory agencies.
