Restorative Justice Consortium Develops New Principles For Restorative Justice.
The Restorative Justice Consortium published the first “Standards for Restorative Justice” in 1998. Criticism of the original document, and international developments in the field of restorative justice, led to the decision to update them. This task was carried out by a working party comprised of academics and practitioners.
“restorative justice in schools, the work place, the community, prisons, the criminal justice system and any other situation where conflict arises”.
The mechanism of the review was to use a paper by Robert Mackay, containing an outline for a Statement of Principles. Firstly, there was substantial discussion over an email discussion group, with comments from a wide range of people. Then, the working party held three meetings in the office, where the group made some substantive decisions, and worked through the text until a consensus was reached for the new Principles.
One of the discussions was about accessibility of language, including the
inclusion of technical terms, as there is a tension between having very
accessible language and reference to terms that have precise meanings in
professional and legal contexts.
The new “Statement of Restorative Justice Principles” has recently been
completed by the working party. To see the document, please go to: http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/standard.html
The next stage will be to write separate chapters for the practice areas
of youth justice, adult justice, schools, prisons, workplaces, and the
community. Sub groups for this exercise are currently being established. It
is hoped that the final document will provide a useful source for
practitioners and policy makers alike.
For any further information relating to the Principles, please contact
the Restorative Justice Consortium at info@restorativejustice.org.uk.
Clair Phillips
Policy Officer, Restorative Justice Consortium
