MoJ evaluation of restorative justice

The University of Sheffield were commissioned by the government to evaluate three restorative justice schemes between 2001 and 2008. The results of the research, published in four reports, was resounding - restorative justice works.

Key findings from the evaluation included that:

• Restorative justice led to a 14% reduction in the rate of reoffending.
• 85% of victims were satisfied with the process of meeting their offender face to face, and 78% would recommend it to other people in their situation.
• 62% of victims felt that restorative justice had made them feel better after an incident of crime while just 2% felt it had made them feel worse.
• For every £1 spent on delivering a face to face meeting, £8 was saved through reductions in reoffending.

All four reports can be downloaded below.