"We Can't Do Restorative Justice on the Cheap" |CITY|

Submitted by dan. on 2007-01-21 05:21.
Programme ideas | Recommendations

Clairmont expresses concern that, without increased support from the government, the community agencies that administer the program may not be able to keep up. Case workers will require more hours to prepare offenders and victims for meetings. And offenders may need more support to help them complete their commitments to victims and to stay out of trouble. "We can't do restorative justice on the cheap if it's going to do significant cases," he says. "If you're starting to get repeat offenders, kids who are assaulting others on a regular basis, kids who have a lot of problems, you're going to need to have some resources."

A study by Dalhousie University criminologist Don Clairmont found that almost one third of young offenders whose first offence was dealt with through restorative justice went on be convicted for another offence. But for youths whose first offence led to a court conviction, 53 per cent were later convicted on other charges. About 20 per cent of each group were later referred to restorative justice for a later crime.

Clairmont is cautious about reading too much into the figures. Cases that go to restorative justice usually involve less serious charges, and the young person involved has less history of trouble.

"The more true test is that as cases in restorative justice begin to approach in seriousness the cases in court, the better record of (restorative justice) still holds up," he says.

More serious cases are already coming. The number of cases involving violent offences sent to restorative justice grew from 136 in 2000 to 267 in 2004. In Halifax, violent offences accounted for 18 per cent of restorative-justice cases in 2005-06.

"We started off with very low-harm crimes, like break and enter, shoplifting," Atwell says. "And over the years, we've been getting more referrals from the police, from the Crown and from the courts, and some of these cases are now assault with weapons, extensive property damage."

This is a very healpful article about Nova Scotia's province-wide restorative justice programme for juveniles. Read it all.