Lucy* lives in Northamptonshire with her three sons, one of whom needs full time care because of a disability. One night, someone broke into her house while she was asleep and stole her keys. When her oldest son returned home from a night out, her car was gone. She explains how restorative justice helped her to put her mind at rest about what happened.
The RJC welcomes the European Union (EU) Victims’ Directive coming into force today. Member states opting in to the Directive agree, by law, to ensure that victims are offered information on the availability of restorative justice services and that victims who participate are treated "respectfully, sensitively and professionally".
As part of International Restorative Justice Week, this Wednesday we are holding our AGM and annual conference. This will be a chance to reflect on the work of the RJC and our members over the last year. But it will also be a chance to look forward. The theme of the conference is ‘2020 vision’ (pun intended) and we’ll be discussing what lies ahead for the restorative practice field over the next five years.
This year’s International Restorative Justice Week takes place between 15 and 22 November, celebrating and raising awareness of restorative justice.
Key activities happening during this period are the Ministry of Justice’s campaign, I’ve got something to say, and the RJC’s annual conference.
The Ministry of Justice’s International Restorative Justice Week campaign seeks to increase general awareness and understanding of restorative justice and emphasise the benefits for victims.
Why Me?, the victims’ charity, has released a report into the barriers facing provision of restorative justice, and possible policy and practical solutions to overcome these barriers. The report identifies problems with data sharing and statutory obligations, poor public understanding and a lack of information provided to victims, the effects of transforming rehabilitation and the role of police forces and PCCs as the biggest barriers to increasing the delivery of restorative justice in England and Wales.
A decade or so ago I worked at the Fawcett Society, a charity that campaigns for gender equality, leading their work to improve the criminal justice system for women who offend. It was a topical issue – Baroness Corston was in the process of conducting her government-sponsored review on this issue – and there was an emerging political consensus that the justice system simply did not work well enough for women. It was broadly agreed that prison, and particularly short prison sentences, were overused, with serious effects on the women’s own wellbeing as well as that of their families.
Our AGM and annual conference are taking place on 18 November 2015 and for the first time the conference is open to a limited number of non-members.
The theme for this year's conference is Restorative justice - 2020 vision. It will explore how the restorative practice field could develop over the next five years.
RJC members are invited to join from 9.30am, but from 11.15am the event is open to all.
