Te Ara Whakatika

Inside this issue

New Zealand's use of restorative justice has impressed a group of Japanese academics, who have decided to make this country the focus of an international study.

A ‘Just and Caring Society'

A restorative justice post-conference monitoring system is being trialled in Dunedin by Presbyterian Support Otago.

"We're testing a system to follow through after a conference and ensure the conference outcomes are carried out," says the organisation's director of family services, Vaughan Milner.

Presbyterian Support Otago, which is one of the provider groups taking part in the court-referred restorative justice pilot, is a social agency that runs a variety of initiatives aimed at creating a ‘just and caring society.'

"We run a range of programmes where the aim is to work with people or systems to achieve sustainable change."

These include advocacy, budget advice, food assistance, social work support, counselling, group programmes, child and youth mentoring, elder abuse and neglect prevention, and a supported employment initiative for young people called Y outh Grow.

Vaughan (pictured above with YouthGrow manager Gayle Heath) says that restorative justice is a ‘logical extension' of some of its other work.

"It is a healing process that has major benefits for those involved and the community."

The group has 18 facilitators and is beginning to get referrals from outside the pilot parameters and geographical location.

"It's showing that the pilot is having an impact, with us getting word of mouth referrals from victims and offenders' solicitors. A growing number of police are also embracing the concept and talking about it to colleagues."

The monitoring trial is a Presbyterian Support Otago (PSO) initiative aimed at seeing what support is needed to ensure restorative justice agreements are carried through.

Facilitator Dena Gray has been brokering the process, reporting back to PSO each month with a time sheet and log of events.

"There was a concern that some people were not accessing the ongoing support they needed. You can have a wonderful conference, but what really happens afterwards? Is everyone still happy?"

Dena follows up cases referred by facilitators. One involved giving an offender budgeting advice to help her honour her restorative justice conference commitment, and another involved overseeing the reconciliation of a friendship between two people with mild intellectual disabilities.

"We're not automatically following up everyone. Sometimes the outcomes are met at the time of the conference.

"Some follow-up is little more than a phone call, while others need a house visit. We want to see what resources are involved in setting up a system like this."

International Study Focuses on New Zealand

New Zealand's use of restorative justice has impressed a group of Japanese academics, who have decided to make this country the focus of an international study.

Six academics, led by criminal law and criminology professor Tetsuya Fujimoto (pictured), spent several days in Auckland as part of their study into restorative justice throughout the world.

The group visited the Auckland District Court and the Auckland Remand Prison, and met a range of people with interests in restorative justice, including Judge Fred McElrea, Department for Courts' restorative justice coordinator Islay Brown, restorative justice practitioners from the Courts' pilot, and representatives from the Police, Crown Solicitors' Office and Probation Service.

Their research, which will also cover the United States, Canada, Australia and England, will result in the publication of a book next year.

Professor Fujimoto said the research was focusing on New Zealand "because you have the best restorative justice system in the world."

Restorative justice in other countries tends to focus on misdemeanours and minor offences, "but in New Zealand you are focusing on serious offences.

"It is important to know how it works out in the case of serious offences, and how we should operate restorative justice through the police, prosecution and court stages. "You are doing very well."

He said that restorative justice is not used in the Japanese criminal justice system, and is seen as a new concept in Japan. A form of restitution - whereby offenders can get reduced sentences by paying compensation to victims - is used in Japan, "but we don't call it restorative justice."

Professor Fujimoto said that Japan used to have a low crime rate, but since 1991 the economy has slowed and unemployment has risen. Crime is increasing "year by year," along with the country's prison population. He believes restorative justice could be used in Japan to divert some offenders back into society rather than prison, and to help with rehabilitation.

"You are doing this kind of work in New Zealand, which is why we came to learn how to operate restorative justice in the future in Japan."

Acknowledging Responsibility for Actions

Trish had only one thing in mind when she approached the police after a driver accidentally reversed over the foot of her nine-year-old son.

"He didn't acknowledge the accident at the time, and I really wanted my son to understand that no matter what age you are, you're responsible for your actions." A court-referred restorative justice conference enabled her to seek and get an apology and explanation for the driver's actions, and some financial compensation for the expenses she incurred as a result.

The driver had injured her son's ankle, but failed to get out of his car and apologise at the time.

The police pressed charges, but all Trish (not her real name) really wanted was an apology.

"The restorative justice process gave me the opportunity to get what I needed.

"At the conference the driver said he was in shock and didn't realise my son was hurt. In the end I went to court to support him because he was likely to lose his licence."

She felt that losing his licence would be extreme for the man, who had a special needs child and a degenerating illness himself.

The driver offered to pay for her out-of-pocket expenses and give her son a rugby jersey and cap. "I think the conference gave me what I needed."

Trish was impressed with how the judge took her wishes into account and how the restorative justice process enabled her and her son to have some control as victims. Her son could also see that there were consequences for the driver's action.

"I was really pleased with the outcome. We had a chance to see our differences and understand each other's family situations."

Above and below: Actors/facilitators taking part in role plays during filming for a training video for the court-referred restorative justice pilot.

Flexibility on Both Sides

Finding ways for victims to be more involved in initiating restorative justice conferences is likely to be a key focus of the court-referred pilot in the coming year.

"We've had 970 cases referred to date and 345 conferences," says project manager Alison Hill (pictured).

"Almost 40 percent of cases referred over the last year have gone to conference.

"The numbers, however, are only one part of the picture. It is important to remember that each one represents a group of people who've had the opportunity to take part in a process that may have had a significant impact on their ability to move forward after an offence."

Alison says that one of the major hurdles for the pilot has been finding a balance between the aims and objectives of the community groups overseeing the facilitators involved in the pilot, and the rules and rigours by which a government department is bound. "It has involved both parties developing an awareness of the constraints and concerns of the other.

"Some community groups found it difficult to come to terms with the requirements upon them as providers of services purchased by the government. The reality is that the government requires a high level of accountability for funds, and therefore robust systems.

"But I think that over the period of the pilot there has been a growth in understanding from both sides."

Alison says it is heartening to see provider groups such as Presbyterian Support Otago thinking laterally about how they can contribute to the development of restorative justice processes.

She says that preliminary feedback from the pilot suggests that most offenders involved in a restorative justice process feel ashamed of what they did, and feel the process will help them stop re-offending. Almost two-thirds of offenders say they feel more positive about the criminal justice system as a result of participating in the conference.

"Reoffending by offenders who have participated in the pilot will be followed up and reported on in 2005. This, together with follow up with victims, will give us a really good picture of the results of the pilot."

Initial follow-up suggests that victims' main reasons for attending a restorative justice conference are to find out what the offender was like and to have more of a say about any plan initiated for the offender.

Offenders say they want to attend mainly to apologise and make amends to the victim.

The main reason victims choose not to take part in a restorative justice process is that they do not want to meet the offender. Some offenders do not take part because they cannot be contacted - though a number also indicate that they do not want to meet the victim.

More than two thirds of the offenders who have taken part in a conference say it is good to meet the victim, and more than 60 percent of victims think it's good to have met the offender.

The process seems to be meeting the needs of victims, says Alison. Most victims say they would recommend going to a conference to others, 90 percent say they are pleased they took part and more than three quarters say they feel better as a result of participating in the conference.

"It is important for us to monitor and assess what is happening with the pilot as we go along," says Alison, "so that we can adjust to take these findings into account.

"But I'm also mindful that we don't jump to conclusions prior to all of the information being collected over the four-year pilot period."

Te Ara Whakatika is produced by the Department for Courts to ensure the wide community of people who support the restorative justice movement are kept informed about the court-referred restorative justice project. The items in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department for Courts or official policies. Articles in this newsletter may be copied and reproduced, but Te Ara Whakatika must be acknowledged. Te Ara Whakatika can be viewed online at www.courts.govt.nz/publications/news.html. Inquiries regarding the court-referred restorative justice project should be directed to: Alison Hill, Department for Courts, PO Box 2750, Wellington, Phone (04) 918 8839, Fax (04) 918 8820, email: alison.hill@courts.govt.nz; or to co-ordinators Islay Brown (Auckland) Phone 025 745 141, (09) 916 9000; Garry Summers (Waitakere) Phone 025 271 5148, (09) 916 5268; Marianne Lammers (Hamilton) Phone (07) 957 7816, (025) 271 5203; Cathy Brown (Dunedin) Phone 025 271 5164, (03) 471 5170. Te Ara Whakatika mailing list inquiries should be directed to: Abpost, PO Box 38756, Petone, Wellington. Fax (04) 568 3400.