The Centre for Innovative Justice, a department within RMIT University in Australia, has published a major report which recommends the use of restorative justice in cases of sexual offending. The report, Innovative justice responses to sexual offending, recommends that "with comprehensive safeguards and a coordinated, properly resourced system - sexual offence restorative justice conferencing has the potential to meet more of the justice needs of those victims who are being failed by the existing system."
The Restorative Justice Council is inviting members to stand for election to join the RJC board of trustees.
The board of trustees is the RJC's governing body. Trustees play a vital role guiding and enabling the vision and work of your organisation.
Seven RJC trustees are elected directly from the membership. They reflect the broad field of restorative practice and act in the best interests of the RJC to help us meet our charitable aims and fulfil our vision for everyone to have access to restorative practice.
The RJC board of trustees is proposing some changes to the RJC’s Articles of Association, which is our governing document. The rationale for these changes is explained in a note from the RJC’s chair, Graham Robb, which is available to download below. The proposed resolutions, which specify the exact changes, can also be downloaded below, along with the proposed new Articles of Association. The RJC’s board is asking members to vote for all of these resolutions.
Restorative justice works. The evidence shows that restorative justice meets the needs of victims and reduces the frequency of reoffending.
In 2001, the government funded a £7 million, seven year research programme into restorative justice. The independent evaluation, published by the Ministry of Justice, found that in a randomised control trial of the use of restorative justice with adult offenders:
If you have been a victim of crime and are considering restorative justice, you are likely to have questions about what it will involve and why it might work for you. The RJC has developed these resources to help answer some of your questions.
Organisations offering restorative services to the public can order copies of Restorative justice works - information for victims at cost price, customised with the relevant contact details. Please contact communications@restorativejustice.org.uk to find out more.
The RJC is pleased to announce that three more services, Lincolnshire Secure Unit, Leicestershire YOS's restorative work and Bradford Restorative Justice Hub have been awarded the Restorative Service Quality Mark (RSQM).
The RSQM is a badge of quality that demonstrates that a service provides safe, high quality restorative practice which meets the six Restorative Service Standards. These services will join 14 others across a range of sectors who were awarded the RSQM in its first year.
During International Restorative Justice Week 2014 the RJC partnered with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), Why Me? and the Chris Donovan Trust on What would you do?, a campaign to raise awareness of restorative justice. Figures published by the MoJ indicate that the campaign was an overwhelming success, reaching 6.5 million people on Twitter and 4.2 million people on Facebook.
The Ministry of Justice has published its third restorative justice action plan with information and objectives up to 2018. The document outlines the MOJ’s commitment to victim-focused restorative justice and its vision of what restorative justice provision will look like in the coming years.
This version of the action plan, which takes into account the evolving criminal justice landscape and the progress made in the provision of restorative justice, covers three key areas:
