June update – Restorative justice in the Dáil and UK Parliament

Department of Justice/RJS4C Ireland stakeholder consultation on 1st and 7th July; RJ mentioned in the Dáil

In collaboration with the Department of Justice, we are hosting two online sessions to discuss options for the development of restorative justice services in Ireland, as articulated in a recent briefing for the Criminal Justice Strategic Committee. It has been great to see the high level of interest in these sessions, so please continue to register (the two sessions are the same, so you only need to come to one) and share the information with others who can contribute. If you are not able to attend but would like to make a submission in writing, please email Tim Hurley from the Department of Justice on TXHurley@justice.ie to do so.

We were glad to see further confirmation of political support for this process, as the Minister was asked a question about restorative justice in the Dáil earlier this month.

New research briefing on RJ and intimate partner violence published; Report published on survivors’ voices in Scotland

Thanks to the ACJRD for allowing us to pre-publish a briefing which will appear in their forthcoming 2019 annual conference report. In the briefing, Callie Zinsmeyer (RJS) and I outline the research and debates on RJ and intimate partner violence. Please continue to get in touch if you have an idea for the blog section on our website, if you would like your relevant publications included in our stakeholder publications section, if you would like to write a research summary, or if you would like to contribute to the website in any other way.

You may also be interested in this report by Thriving Survivors in Scotland, which consulted survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence ‘to establish awareness, opinion, and demand related to the ongoing development of a National Restorative Justice Policy and Practice Framework for Scotland’. The executive summary (pp. 7-14) is very worth reading.

All-Party Parliamentary Group on RJ established in the UK; Reports and conference recordings published

• The National College of Ireland has published the recording of its recent event on restorative communities – see here for more.
• There is a new parliamentary group on RJ in the UK – find more information here, the group’s Twitter feed here, and check out the Why Me? report on this here.
• You can find a summary of statistics on the RJ questions in the Crime Survey for England and Wales on p.10 here.
• Of likely interest to restorative practitioners is the recent report from UL on effective relationships between youth justice workers and young people – see here for more.
• Similarly, HMI Probation has published a research summary on social capital and desistance – see here for the report.
• The Inspector of Prisons’ annual report notes that RP could be used to support consultation in prisons – see p.16 here.
• The Jesuits in Ireland have engaged two independent facilitators to “co-design restorative processes” for those impacted by historical sexual abuse – see here for more.