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Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice itself has been defined as:

' a process whereby parties with a stake in a specific offence collectively resolve how to deal with the aftermath of the offence and its implications for the future.'

Restorative Justice is thus a problem solving approach to crime which involves the parties themselves and the community generally in an active relationship with statutory agencies. This is made possible by the belief that a crime is committed against the community not just the victim, and that the crime can only be resolved when the offender makes amends with those whom they have offended against.

In Restorative Justice equal weighting is given to the victim as to the offender.

In practical terms within our force, what this means is that all requests for Police Restorative Warnings, will, where deemed suitable, be carried out by trained officers in a restorative manner. The officer carrying out the warning (the facilitator) will also try and ensure a victim input to the warning process, either by the personal attendance of the victim (if the offender has agreed), or by the facilitator voicing the view of the victim after contacting them. In cases where the victim is deemed to be especially vulnerable they will be contacted by Victim Support who may also attend at a warning in their place where suitable.