The Restorative Justice Service Review, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice, has been released today.
Restorative Justice is a service funded by the Ministry of Justice / Te Tāhū o te Ture which involves victims and offenders voluntarily meeting face-to-face to discuss what has happened and how the harm that has been caused can be repaired.
The report examined what is working and what can be improved with the service, as well producing ten recommendations for its future development.
The recommendations include boosting promotion of the service for participants and the public with improved information and providing better training opportunities and support for providers involved with the Restorative Justice process.
“We were able to engage directly with the sector, which was a great opportunity to get the feedback we needed. It looks like the service is currently working as intended, but we are working through the recommendations given by the review and taking them into consideration,” says Donella Gawith, Group Manager, Commissioning and Service Improvement.
Stakeholders interviewed for the review, included service providers, people who have used Restorative Justice, court staff, representatives from the Judiciary, police, and lawyers. The interviews took place between August 2021 and July 2022 and helped to form the recommendations of the report.
The review found that most stakeholders were very positive about the service.
Restorative Justice participants praised its facilitators as knowledgeable and claimed the process helped to restore emotional wellbeing. The review highlighted that the service provides an opportunity for remorse to be expressed to victims in a face-to-face setting.
Sector groups were also positive, reporting many encouraging outcomes when participants and victims use the service, including the opportunity to provide healing and closure for the victim.
The review also explored some common barriers to the service. One barrier identified was a lack of promotion of Restorative Justice.
Those interviewed raised that information needed to be more readily available and accessible for both participants and the public.
The need for more opportunities for professional development for facilitators was also identified.
Work is underway to plan how the Ministry can address the recommendations made in the report.
Restorative Justice has also benefited from successful 2022 Budget initiatives, with the Ministry now able to invest in supporting critical justice services and address some cost pressures for service providers.
To read the report, click here [PDF, 860 KB].
To learn more about the Restorative Justice Service, click here.
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