Posted: Thursday 7th August 2014
The concept of Restorative Justice has been talked about a lot recently, it even made a recent storyline on Coronation Street, but what is it about? Who is it aimed at? What are the benefits to society?
In my regular meetings with victims, they constantly tell me they are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the criminal justice system, and almost always they never hear the word ‘sorry’. There is something clearly wrong with a system that does not put victims first, but Restorative Justice can put the victim firmly back in the driving seat.
This isn’t a soft option; it’s about giving victims a stronger sense of justice being done and directing offenders down the right path in life, rather than locking them into a life of crime, leaving many victims in their wake. It’s not a substitute for prosecution, but recognises that punishment is often not enough to stop criminals offending, and needs to be complimented with a focus on rehabilitating offenders.
Restorative Justice covers many different options but the most powerful is when the perpetrator of a crime comes face to face with their victim and hears how their actions have affected that person. If you are a victim of say, a burglary, you may feel you have been personally targeted, but usually the person committing the crime merely sees a property, not a person. With the agreement of the victim, they have a supervised meeting with the perpetrator and tell them exactly how they feel and what the consequences of their criminal actions were. For many victims who have taken this decision, it has made them feel more empowered and also had a profound effect on changing the attitude and behaviour of the offender.
From this October, in the case of mainly first time offenders who have never been in trouble with the police before, new “Community Remedies” may be appropriate rather than a police caution which puts them into the criminal justice system with all the consequences that brings. Community Remedies can be appropriate for so called ‘low level’ crimes such as anti-social behaviour, criminal damage and some thefts, and victims have a say in determining the out of court disposal. Offenders are seen to make amends for their behaviour in various ways, it might be unpaid work like picking up litter, cleaning graffiti or paying for damage they have caused.
Across Humberside Police we have many officers and PCSO’s who are real champions of Restorative Justice, coming up with innovative ideas for offenders to give something back to their communities. The signs are positive, the Ministry of Justice has found that 85% of victims were satisfied with the outcome, and there was a 14% reduction in re-offending rates. That’s a good start, and I’d like to see that figure increasing as we expand Restorative Justice in the coming years.
You can have your say in the types of Community Remedies you would like to see given to offenders. CLICK HERE to take the survey on Community Remedies where you can give me your views. The survey runs until the end of August.
Matthew