A legislative right for victims of crime to access restorative justice services is a laudable goal which should be worked towards, once existing concerns about capacity have been addressed, says a Justice Committee report. The committee of MPs believes that a legislative right to restorative justice; only once the justice minister has demonstrated to Parliament that the system has capacity to deliver.
Committee Chair Bob Neill, Conservative MP for Bromley, said: “We heard extensive evidence of the tangible benefits to victims and the role of restorative justice in reducing reoffending, so it clearly benefits wider society as well. While capacity issues mean that it is still too soon to introduce a legislative right to restorative justice for victims, we urge the Government to work towards this goal.”
However, public awareness of restorative justice remains relatively low, at just over a quarter, 28pc. The same poll found that 80 per cent of people questioned thought that victims should have the right to meet their offender. However, among those giving written evidence to the committee was the trade body the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS). It made the point that retailers often report that police attempt to use restorative justice without consent of the retailer (victim) or sufficiently analyse how appropriate certain types of restorative justice responses are. For example, after a shop theft offender has been caught it would be an operational risk for that offender to work in the shop to pay off the debt. It would also be inappropriate for restorative justice to be used where there have been aggravating factors such as significant damage to the store, aggression toward staff or repeat offences. And restorative justice can be time consuming and costly for retailers and their staff, who have a business to run. The ACS suggested that retailers would like to see greater consistency.
Bob Neill said: “The priority must be to ensure that victims of crime are properly informed. The Ministry of Justice should focus its resources on ensuring restorative justice is well understood by bodies within the criminal justice system who can then convey this information to victims. A rigorous system should be introduced to improve compliance with the police’s requirement to inform victims – perhaps something as straightforward as a box at the end of the victim impact statement form.”
The committee also found that restorative justice is subject to a “postcode lottery” and regional buy-in. While ring-fencing funding to Police and Crime Commissioners may appear superficially attractive, it concluded that budgets could not be set up in a reliable or sensible manner – not least because of the entirely voluntary nature of participation. It also found that undue reliance should not be placed on some of the cost savings claims concerning restorative justice. Some of the 17 witnesses who gave evidence argued that restorative justice would not be appropriate in cases of domestic abuse, and doubts were also expressed about its use in sexual offences and hate crime. The report recommends that it be reaffirmed that “Level One” restorative justice is never appropriate for cases of domestic abuse and that police should be given proper guidance.
However the committee believes that in principle restorative justice should be available for all types of offence, and that a bright-line exclusion rule would be against the aims of the Restorative Justice Action Plan. Because of the clear risks involved for certain types of offence, it recommends that the Ministry of Justice should work with the Restorative Justice Council to create and fund training and promote best practice for facilitators in such cases. Other recommendations include:
Improving victim engagement in restorative justice in the youth justice system, looking to the example of youth conferencing used in Northern Ireland
Creation and dissemination of a data sharing template to help speed up the agreement of data sharing protocols
Introduction of a system to ensure more consistent compliance with the Victims’ Code requirement to make victims aware of restorative justice
Rationalising restorative justice related entitlements under the Victims’ Code so that they no longer vary based on the age of the offender.
The committee’s inquiry into restorative justice, announced in November 2015, set out to assess the effectiveness of restorative justice provision across the criminal justice system. For the 41-page report, visit http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmjust/164/164.pdf.
Labour comment
Richard Burgon, Shadow Justice Secretary, said: “Labour welcomes the Justice Committee’s recommendation that all victims of crime should have a right to access Restorative Justice. It is vital that the Ministry of Justice now begin the work of ensuring that the Criminal Justice System can provide Restorative Justice services to all victims. However, the reality is, the system is hugely under resourced thanks to the Conservative Government’s failed policy of austerity.
“Worryingly, the report also highlights a total lack of action on the part of the Government in bringing forward a Victim’s Law, despite having pledged to do so in the last two Queen’s Speeches and the 2015 Conservative manifesto. This is completely unacceptable – victims will continue to feel badly let down by the system until Tory ministers start to live up the promises they have made.”
