In January 2010, the Justice Committee of the House of Commons published their report on justice reinvestment. In the context of their wider argument for government to invest in initiatives which prevent crime, the report cites evidence supporting further investment in restorative justice.
This resource charts PC Sandie Hastings' journey since her first training course with Thames Valley Police in 1999, detailing the meteoric development of restorative justice in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
The 2010 New Economics Foundation (NEF) Punishing costs report recommends better use of restorative justice interventions – one of which NEF estimates would lead to savings of £60 million per year.
The report suggests that devolving budgets to local councils could facilitate the creation of a justice system that is more engaged with the people in the area, involving them in solutions such as restorative justice.
The Commission's 2010 inquiry was prompted by concern about deep-rooted failings in the response to antisocial behaviour and crime involving children and young people.
A dispute settlement service in North Carolina was asked in 2002 by the jurisdiction in one county to mediate cases involving charges of 'assault on a female' brought to the district criminal court.
Research was undertaken to compare domestic violence reoffending outcomes two years after mediation with outcomes two years after a court appearance or a prison sentence.
For defendants without previous criminal convictions, the reoffending rate was significantly lower for those who went to mediation than of those who went to trial.
In September 2001, the Home Office released two studies on the use of restorative justice. These were An Exploratory Evaluation of Restorative Justice Schemes and An International Review of Restorative Justice. Each report provides cautions and suggestions for implementing restorative justice programmes.
At a UN meeting in April 2002, a resolution was passed that puts restorative justice officially on the international map.
The International Scientific and Professional Advisory Council (ISPAC) of the United Nations asked for its committee responsible for victims to prepare a report on restorative justice.
The report considered different approaches to restorative justice and concluded there was a need to set standards.
This report summarises the results of the AGIS project on meeting the challenges of introducing victim-offender mediation in Central and Eastern Europe (JAI/2003/AGIS/088) that the European Forum for Victim-Offender Mediation and Restorative Justice coordinated between December 2003 and November 2005 with the financial support of the European Commission.
A controlled study on the effects of restorative conferencing on victims of crime has shown that it reduces post-traumatic stress symptoms.
The study was performed by Dr Caroline M Angel, a lecturer in criminology at the Jerry Lee Center of Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. As significant as it is unusual, the study took a clinical approach, finding that conferencing had measurable positive effects on the emotional health of victims of crime.
All those who participate in restorative justice deserve to have access to the highest quality of service available.
The aim of this document is to enable and encourage practitioners and organisations in Scotland to provide this kind of service by establishing nationally recognised standards of best practice.
