Restorative Justice

How It Works

Marian Liebmann

• Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781846426315
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Work
• Index: Social Sciences

This comprehensive guide provides an accessible introduction to the philosophy of restorative justice and its practical application in a wide range of settings, showing how it can help both victims and offenders when harm has been done.

Drawing on many years' experience of working in victim support, probation, mediation and restorative practices, Marian Liebmann uses pertinent case examples to illustrate how restorative justice can be used effectively to work with crime and its effects. Also included are sections on confronting bullying in schools, dealing with sexual and racial violence, tackling antisocial behaviour and community reconciliation after war. Whether in the context of families, schools, communities, criminal justice or prisons, the author argues that restorative justice is a `seamless philosophy' which can be applied flexibly to meet diverse needs. Liebmann provides an international outlook, examining how restorative justice is practised around the world, including traditional Maori and Aboriginal approaches.

Restorative Justice: How It Works is a key reference for magistrates, social workers, probation officers, Youth Offending Team workers, police, teachers and health professionals, as well as the lay reader.

CHAPTER 1

What is Restorative Justice?

Introduction

‘Restorative justice’ has become the term generally used for an approach to criminal justice (and other justice systems such as a school disciplinary system) that emphasise restoring the victim and the community rather than punishing the offender. Some practitioners think that the term should be ‘restorative approaches’, but the name ‘restorative justice’ is the one that has travelled the world, so I continue to use it.

Restorative justice: A definition

There are many definitions of restorative justice. The Restorative Justice Consortium, a national charity whose members are national organisations and individuals interested in promoting restorative justice, uses the following definition on its leaflet:

Restorative Justice works to resolve conflict and repair harm. It encourages those who have caused harm to acknowledge the impact of what they have done and gives them an opportunity to make reparation. It offers those who have suffered harm the opportunity to have their harm or loss acknowledged and amends made. (Restorative Justice Consortium 2006)

A very simple definition I sometimes use when I give talks to audiences unfamiliar with criminal justice jargon is:

Restorative justice aims to restore the well-being of victims, offenders and communities damaged by crime, and to prevent further offending.

There are many other definitions, all quite similar but emphasising different aspects. Some of these are very wide-ranging, including such things as community service and victim awareness work with offenders. One guideline suggested by Helen Reeves (2003) of Victim Support is that an approach can only be deemed restorative if it includes attempts to put things right for the actual victims of crime.

Transformative justice

Some practitioners point out that only rarely can victims of crime be really restored to their previous condition. Even if goods are returned or insurance claimed or wounds healed, there are still likely to be emotional scars for the victim. The hope is that, rather than aim to simply restore what has been lost, a dialogue between victim and offender can transform the crime into something different, so that the experience can be a healing one for all concerned.

Principles of restorative justice

These are the hallmarks of a restorative approach:

Victim support and healing is a priority

Although victim support and healing might seem an obvious aim for a criminal justice system, to have it as a priority would turn the system on its head. Most formal criminal justice systems are focused on offenders – identifying them, catching them, arresting them, charging them, taking them to court, sentencing them and punishing them. Huge state departments comprising police, prosecutors, magistrates, judges and prison and probation staff exist to process offenders. Although the needs of victims have begun to be recognised, there is still a vast imbalance in the resources allocated.

When I give talks on restorative justice, I often ask whether anyone has been a victim of crime – often half or all the audience put their hands up – then ask what they would have wanted after the crime. Almost all of them mention things they needed (their property back, questions answered, information about what was happening, etc.) rather than punishment for the offender.

Offenders take responsibility for what they have done

Offenders are used to ‘taking punishment’ but this is not the same as taking responsibility for what they have done. Many times when I was working with offenders, I heard them say, ‘I’ve done my time, I’ve paid my debt to society’, while in reality they had cost the state a lot of money and had not given a thought to those they had harmed – nor even been asked to. Taking responsibility means saying, ‘Yes, I did it and I take responsibility for the harm I caused.’ It is the starting point for restorative justice.

There is dialogue to achieve understanding

Many victims are full of questions about the crime – why me? why my house? what happened to the photographs? is it likely to happen again? and so on. There is only one person who can answer these questions. Some offenders do not understand how they have harmed their victims, ‘What’s the problem? They can get it back on insurance, can’t they?’, and it is only when they hear from the victim that they realise the upset they have caused. These dialogues are usually not possible in the formal court setting, but are one of the main processes in restorative justice.

There is an attempt to put right the harm done

The next logical step in taking responsibility for doing harm is to try to put things right, as far as is possible. Sometimes an apology is enough, but often more is needed. There may be practical issues to put right, such as a fence being mended. Sometimes the community has been harmed and this needs putting right; an example might be removing graffiti on an elderly persons’ home. Many offenders are poor and may not have the skills to do this, so the community or the state may need to help too. Victims sometimes ask offenders to do some voluntary work for people less fortunate than themselves.

Offenders look at how to avoid future offending

Again, once offenders have realised the harm they have done, they usually don’t like the idea of repeating their behaviour. And this is sometimes enough to stop them offending. However, many offenders have problems that lead to offending, such as homelessness, drugs or alcohol – they may need considerable help to avoid future offending and build a different kind of life. Restorative justice needs to go hand in hand with the resources to achieve this. The strong point of a restorative approach, for example a meeting with the victim, is that it provides the offender with the motivation to do this work. And in the long run, most victims are interested in offenders avoiding future offending, thereby preventing the creation of more victims.

The community helps to reintegrate both victim and offender

It is often very clear that offenders need to be reintegrated into the community, especially after a prison sentence – they need accommodation, jobs and relationships to become positive members of the community. But victims too need reintegrating into the community – they often feel alienated and cut off as a result of crime. This is one of the principal aims of Victim Support, the charitable organisation that provides practical and emotional support for victims of crime.

Some restorative processes: Definitions

Mediation (conflicts)

Mediation is a process in which an impartial third party helps two (or more) disputing parties to reach ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Other Books
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1. What is Restorative Justice?
• 2. A Brief History of Restorative Justice
• 3. Restorative Approaches Involving Victims and Offenders Separately
• 4. Models of Restorative Justice Involving Victims and Offenders Together
• 5. Restorative Approaches for the Early Years of Life
• 6. Restorative Approaches in Schools
• 7. Restorative Justice with Victims and Young Offenders in the UK
• 8. Restorative Justice with Victims and Adult Offenders in the UK
• 9. Restorative Justice in Prisons 1: Prisoners Making Amends
• 10. Restorative Justice in Prisons 2: Relationships in the Prison Community
• 11. Restorative Justice Around the World
• 12. Restorative Justice in Complex and Sensitive Cases
• 13. Issues in Restorative Justice
• 14. Research: A Selection
• 15. Restorative Justice After Large-Scale Violence or Oppression
• 16. Arts Approaches to Restorative Justice
• Postscript: Growing Points
• Appendix 1: Restorative Justice Consortium: Principles of Restorative Processes (2004)
• Appendix 2: United Nations: Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice Programmes in Criminal Matters (2004)
• Appendix 3: Glossary
• Appendix 4: Further Reading/Resources in Restorative Justice
• Appendix 5: Organisations and Websites
• Appendix 6: Index of Case Studies
• Subject Index
• Author Index