A Charter for Practitioners of Restorative Justice.
During 2002 and 2003, a group of restorative justice practitioners in British Columbia, Canada, compiled a practice guide. The Charter has been published on-line by the Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University. Meredith Egan, Coordinator of the Centre, provides this description of the Charter.
A Charter for Practitioners of Restorative Justice was crafted in 2002 and
2003 by a group of practitioners in British Columbia in an effort to
articulate “that which guides our work, practice and commitment to
restorative justice.” Many expressed concern with respect to
difficulties in monitoring and measuring competencies in ourselves and one
another, and so A Charter was drafted to help set out guidelines, values and
principles for practicing restorative processes to help ensure goals of
achieving healing, community and peace. This Charter can be found in
full-text at http://www.sfu.ca/cfrj/fulltext/charter.pdf
The Charter was drafted over the course of a little more than a year, through a series of discussions, exercises and a great deal of thoughtful consideration. Many of the practitioners who participated attended only some of the sessions; a few participants took on a major role in crafting the document. In the end we came to a clear consensus on its content. It was agreed that we will revisit the document from time to time, but that changes would have to be agreed upon by all of the signatories.
We invite you to examine, circulate and discuss this Charter with colleagues, and if you choose, to add your name as a signatory to it by emailing the Centre for Restorative Justice at mlegan@sfu.ca.
Feel free to sign this charter as it exists now, or to use it as you please. You may edit the contents of this Charter as you see fit for your practice or agency, but please be so kind as to remove the original signatures and change the title if you make changes to the text. We would appreciate knowing how this Charter is being used, and acknowledgement of the original source.
Furthermore, the Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University will periodically host gatherings to discuss the Charter as it relates to current topics or issues in restorative justice. The main purpose of these gatherings is to examine, and possibly expand the scope of the Charter. We may choose to edit its contents to reflect newly developed insights in restorative justice and its practice. Should you become a signatory and stay in touch with the Centre, you will receive an invitation to these gatherings.
May 2005
The Charter was drafted over the course of a little more than a year, through a series of discussions, exercises and a great deal of thoughtful consideration. Many of the practitioners who participated attended only some of the sessions; a few participants took on a major role in crafting the document. In the end we came to a clear consensus on its content. It was agreed that we will revisit the document from time to time, but that changes would have to be agreed upon by all of the signatories.
We invite you to examine, circulate and discuss this Charter with colleagues, and if you choose, to add your name as a signatory to it by emailing the Centre for Restorative Justice at mlegan@sfu.ca.
Feel free to sign this charter as it exists now, or to use it as you please. You may edit the contents of this Charter as you see fit for your practice or agency, but please be so kind as to remove the original signatures and change the title if you make changes to the text. We would appreciate knowing how this Charter is being used, and acknowledgement of the original source.
Furthermore, the Centre for Restorative Justice at Simon Fraser University will periodically host gatherings to discuss the Charter as it relates to current topics or issues in restorative justice. The main purpose of these gatherings is to examine, and possibly expand the scope of the Charter. We may choose to edit its contents to reflect newly developed insights in restorative justice and its practice. Should you become a signatory and stay in touch with the Centre, you will receive an invitation to these gatherings.
May 2005
