Restorative Justice expanded

• The Ministry of Justice commissioned an evaluation of three pilot restorative justice schemes, which used a mix of conferencing, mediation and indirect mediation methods.
• This research suggests that restorative justice has the potential to be associated with high levels of victim satisfaction.

• This is particularly so for the conferencing method of restorative justice, which was associated with 85% overall victim satisfaction.
• Surveys on restorative justice have found that victims report an 85% satisfaction rate. A drop of around 14% in reoffending rates was recorded among perpetrators.

The Ministry of Justice set out a strategy to build access, capacity and awareness of restorative justice across the Criminal Justice System, in a Restorative Justice Action Plan.

A recent Joint Justice Inspectorates report found that restorative justice in the UK is limited by 'patchy' availability across the country, gaps in access across the stages of the justice system and inconsistent quality of restorative justice being delivered.

Currently Restorative Justice mainly takes place after sentencing.

The aim is for more pre-sentence Restorative Justice based on cases where offenders have already pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.

• The Ministry of Justice has said an extra £1 million ill be made available to provide more restorative justice schemes throughout the UK.
• The money will be used to develop pre-sentence Restorative Justice and expand the scheme across the country.

• The additional money will result in around up to 20,000 more restorative justice cases a year.

Details of how restorative justice encounters will operate will be set out in a new clause of the crime and courts bill being debated in the House of Lords, reports the Guardian.

At present, the practice is used in relatively few areas. Its formal inclusion in the bill is being presented as a victory for Liberal Democrats.

Restorative justice is the process of bringing together those harmed by crime or conflict with those responsible for the harm, to find a positive way forward.

In criminal justice, restorative processes give victims the chance to:

• Tell offenders the real impact of their crime.
• Get answers to their questions.
• Get an apology.

Restorative justice holds offenders to account for what they have done. It helps them understand the real impact, take responsibility, and make amends.

More offenders will have to meet their victims and apologise before being sentenced under a rapid expansion of restorative justice unveiled today.

The Ministry of Justice will reveal that an extra £1 million will be made available to provide more restorative justice schemes throughout the UK.

The additional money will result in around up to 20,000 more restorative justice cases a year, the The Ministry of Justice have said.