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Restorative justice

Restorative justice : an international perspective

In North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand today, the concept of restorative justice is tied to diverse practices, including conferencing, sentencing circles, and victim-offender mediation schemes. these practices focus on repairing the harm caused by crime, by holding moderated meetings of crime victims, offenders, and others affected by crime. they can be used at different sites in the justice system: as a diversion from court, as a pre-sentencing option, and following the release of a person from prison. restorative justice practices are also used in the handling of family welfare and child protection matters, and in workplace disputes.

Justice practices in pre-modern societies may have contained elements of restorative principles (such as restitution and compensation). Current applications of the idea began to develop and proliferate in the 1970s in North America, beginning with a victim-offender reconciliation program in Ontario, Canada in 1974. Hundreds of similar programs subsequently emerged in other North American sites and in Europe.

A somewhat different model of restorative justice emerged in the Antipodes, one based on family group decision-making. That model was first introduced in New Zealand in 1989, incorporating Maori approaches to the handling of child protection and juvenile justice cases. The conferencing idea was subsequently borrowed and adapted by jurisdictions in Australia, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Singapore, and South Africa. Conferences can differ from victim-offender mediation schemes in that they bring more community people into the discussion, acknowledge a wider range of victimised people, and emphasise participation by the family members of offenders.