In 2009, Sheffield Hallam University, in conjunction with Manchester Metropolitan University, were commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the Sycamore Tree programme by Prison Fellowship England and Wales.
The Sycamore Tree Programme is a victim awareness programme that teaches the principles and application of restorative justice.
From 2001, the government funded a £7 million seven-year research programme looking into three restorative justice schemes: CONNECT, the Justice Research Consortium (JRC) and REMEDI.
This paper summarises the results, including that:
This 2013 seminar, organised by the Restorative Justice Council and The Forgiveness Project with the Ministry of Justice, explored the evidence base for restorative justice and where the gaps in our knowledge lie.
The seminar was hosted by Lord Stone of Blackheath at Millbank House in Westminster, London.
Minutes of the seminar are available to download, as are the presentations from Professor Joanna Shapland and Dr Heather Strang.
This 2013 report found ways in which immaturity among young adults can affect restorative justice practice.
These include a tendency for young adults to have chaotic lifestyles, dependence on family members, low levels of emotional literacy, difficulties in accepting responsibility and a lack of a sense of agency (or belief that they have the potential to do something positive).
The report recommends that restorative practitioners are made aware of these challenges and suggests ways in which each can be handled successfully.
This 2004 report is based on an evaluation of 46 restorative justice projects which were funded by the Youth Justice Board.
The main areas covered include a description of the projects and the characteristics of the young people on these projects, a discussion of the implementation problems which staff in the projects faced, and an assessment of the outcomes of the restorative interventions in terms of completion rates, reconviction and feedback from participants.
This 2004 report explores the levels of victimisation, bullying and robbery in 26 schools (20 secondary and six primary), the restorative justice approaches introduced, participants' (victims' and offenders') satisfaction, the short- and long-term effects of the programme and whether restorative justice conferences are a useful tool in reducing school exclusions.
This third report from the evaluation of three schemes from the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield showed that 85% of victims and 80% of offenders were satisfied with their experience of a restorative justice conference.
This is the first philosophical article about law and restorative justice ever written by a Ukrainian prosecutor (Oleksii Geselev), following August 2008's obligatory recommendations from the General Prosecutor of Ukraine to apply victim-offender mediation programmes and expand alternatives to criminal prosecution.
