Nathan Monk

The paper argues for the de-emphasis of the reduction of crime fear as a policy objective. The paper rehearses measurement and ethical issues which support such a view. It goes on to report the more nuanced and sophisticated views of community safety practitioners. The paper demonstrates that the abandonment of the reduction of crime fear as an objective would have little effect upon community safety activity.

This article responds to research carried out in relation to collecting offenders’ perceptions of their experience of accredited programmes during a probation order. This paper returns to questions about offender rights and how the practice of gathering ‘customer’ views about the service they receive is managed. The research team recognised through the design and collection of offender perceptions that different stakeholders valued and used the information for different purposes, but where does this position the ‘customer’ in this kind of dynamic? This paper seeks to outline the potential, pitfalls and limitations of this kind of practice in probation and other areas of criminal justice.

With the introduction of the Crime and Disorder Act (1998) in the UK, a shift in policy and in turn a developing interest in restorative programmes as a means of preventing youth offending and reducing recidivism was seen. This paper will draw upon the findings of the evaluation of the Hampshire Youth Justice Family Group Conference Project. It will examine issues around process; the extent that participants felt that the young person took responsibility for his/her actions, paid reparation to the victim/community and was reintegrated into their family/society. Finally it will discuss whether this type of  restorative intervention is successful in reducing recidivism.

On the basis of empirical findings resulting from a study of one family group conferencing project this article will critically examine the implications of restorative justice operating in the shadow of the criminal justice system. It will discuss four ways of dependence of restorative practice on the criminal justice system: funding, referrals, legal framework and the system-oriented practitioners. The article will argue that the reliance of restorative practice on the criminal justice system may cause numerous problems. It may result in restorative justice being made to serve the system’s objectives and restorative ideals being diluted and distorted. It may produce a situation where restorative justice adopts the value framework of the system and avoids ethical discussions beyond that framework. It may lead to individualising problems and neutralising conflicts with social-structural roots. It may also enable the state to exercise control over troublesome individuals in an invisible fashion. A suggestion will be made about how these dangers could be avoided.

This article considers the role of community in a new model of restorative youth conferencing that has recently been introduced in Northern Ireland. It notes the considerable advantages of enhancing community involvement in criminal justice, but also recognises concerns particularly for a society that is just emerging from years of conflict. Whilst the scheme has clearly increased levels of participation, it is argued that there is potential to develop work further in partnership with elements of the community sector and to contribute to governance and democratic participation within a post-conflict society.

This paper is a summary of a Master’s degree research project on Victim Offender Mediation practice in South Africa. The purpose of the study was to determine the needs of both victims and offenders regarding Victim Offender Mediation and also to identify the skills needed by probation officers to do Victim Offender Mediation. The data was gathered by making use of three focus groups consisting of victims, offenders and social workers working as probation officers. Interviews were conducted according to an interview framework.

The findings showed a remarkable tolerance by the victims of the deeds of the offenders and a compassion for them. The offenders in turn expressed a need to apologise to the offenders for what they had done. Probation officers felt that specialised training is necessary to conduct a successful Victim Offender Mediation session and that generic training in social work is not sufficient.

This article outlines the current provision of restorative justice processes in Scotland. There is policy for restorative processes in the youth justice system, and services are provided throughout Scotland. There is a high-level commitment by the Scottish Executive to restorative justice processes in the adult criminal justice system; however provision of these services is limited to the diversion from prosecution stage in 5 of the 32 Local Authority areas, and the pre-sentencing and post-sentencing stages on an ad hoc basis. The amount of people who have engaged with restorative justice processes at the diversion stage, and come to a satisfactory resolution, suggests that this is a viable option for dealing with minor crime. Although small scale, the use of these processes at the presentencing and post-sentencing stages demonstrates their feasibility and shows that there are benefits for those involved. We conclude that restorative justice processes address a need on behalf of people harmed and people responsible for harm and they make an important contribution to justice. We suggest that making restorative processes available at the various stages of the criminal justice system is a feasible way in which the Scottish Executive could meet its high-level commitment to restorative justice.