Restorative Justice is a voluntary process designed to allow victims to communicate directly with their offender. This can either be face to face, through video link or by writing letters. The idea is to have a positive impact on both the victim and the offender by allowing them to come to terms with what happened.
Communication between the victim and the offender is at the centre of Restorative Justice. The victim has the opportunity to ask any questions and offer forgiveness, while the offender must take responsibility for their actions.
A restorative justice facilitator must decide that the process is safe for the involvement of both parties.
Community Conferencing: similar to a victim offender conference but including members of the community affected by the crime.
Indirect Communication: sometimes referred to as ‘shuttle restorative justice’, this involves messages being passed between victim and offender by a trained facilitator. The participants do not meet and messages are passed via letter, video or audio.
For further information on restorative justice and the different methods, please see the link in Related Information.
