Restorative Justice helps you to explain your thoughts and feelings to the offender, allows you to ask questions and helps you move on from crime.
How it works
Crime occurs
Voice is here to help you cope, recover and thrive following crime. Restorative Justice can be part of this process and can take place at any point in the future.
Self-refer/be referred
You can speak to Voice at any time to say you’re interested in the process. Alternatively, with your consent, a police officer or partner organisation may refer you to Voice.
Offender admits crime
For restorative justice to take place, the offender must have admitted to committing the crime and both the victim and the offender have to be willing to participate.
Facilitator meets with Victim
At the start of the process, you’ll meet with one of our trained facilitators to help understand what you’re looking to achieve and to prepare you for communication with the offender.
Facilitator meets with Offender
A facilitator will also meet with the offender, to understand if they are willing to participate and if communication will be productive.
Victim and offender make an informed decision to engage
If both parties still want to communicate after preparation, and the facilitators think this would help the victim, communication methods are agreed.
Victim and Offender communicate
This can be by letter, phone or face to face with a facilitator in a safe, controlled environment. Over 85% of people who took part would recommend restorative justice.
Why should I undertake Restorative Justice?
Only 35% of people feel that the criminal justice system meets their needs – Restorative Justice allows YOU to communicate YOUR views and seek answers to help you recover from crime.
Additionally, RJ has been shown to help reduce re-offending by 14%
Case Studies
Burglary
While enjoying their retirement, a couple in their seventies fell victim to burglary. Following careful risk assessments, a restorative conference was held in a controlled environment. The offender explained how embarrassed he was to meet with his victims and apologised for his actions.
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Abuse
Restorative Justice transformed the life of a an adult who was sexually abused as a child: “My family can’t believe the change in me now that I’ve completed the RJ process. I’m still the same person, but I feel so much better for having done it; I feel like that broken piece of me has been fixed."
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Theft
Residents of sheltered accommodation were feeling intimidated by local youths - The police were spending a lot of time responding to calls from residents. However, they were at a loss as to how to deal with the issues, until they spoke to Voice and a restorative conference was held.
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