New mapping exercise suggests drop in cases; Council of Europe adopts Victims’ Recommendation – Spring 2023 update
23rd May 2023

Spring 2023 update – New mapping exercise suggests drop in referrals, Council of Europe adopts Victims’ Recommendation

New figures suggest fewer restorative justice referrals in 2022 than in 2019

Today, we published the results of our third mapping exercise, covering the 2021 and 2022 calendar years. It is worrying to see these data suggest that referrals remain lower in 2022 than they were in 2019, despite government commitments to expand access. The Journal covered the research here and published Ian Marder’s analysis here. Please help us share these articles with your colleagues, through your organisational newsletters, and via social media. You can read a technical overview of the data here and the full dataset here.

Council of Europe adopts Recommendation relating to victims of crime

The Council of Europe recently adopted the Recommendation on Rights, Services and Support for Victims of Crime, with several provisions on restorative justice. Article 18 reiterates that ‘Restorative justice should be a service that is generally available’ and ‘Restorative justice services should have sufficient capacity to provide safe and effective services to all victims who may benefit.’ The new Recommendation also asks governments to consider ‘the extent to which restorative justice principles can inform the ways in which victims are engaged, and the design and delivery of victim services.’

See the full text of the Recommendation here, the explanatory memorandum here and the Council of Europe’s news item here.

Other items of interest

  • Restorative Justice Services is seeking a new Caseworker – deadline May 19.
  • This month saw a number of excellent podcasts, including the launch of the second series of CDI’s Circles of Connection, with Episode 1 on restorative organisations.
  • Restorative justice is also mentioned, as is victims’ rights, in an episode of Crime World with Vivian Geiran, former Director of the Probation Service.
  • The ‘First Annual Northern Ireland Conference on Restorative Justice’ will be organised by the Restorative Justice Council this September – check it out here.
  • The Restorative Justice Council is also organising a conference in London in June on power dynamics in restorative practice – check it out here.
  • European bodies hosting international conferences in June include Victim Support Europe (here) and the European Forum for Restorative Justice (here).