Marcus Czarnecki at Hull University Campus
Marcus Czarnecki, Restorative Justice Champion for North East Lincolnshire and member of staff at VANEL, has been selected to join an advisory committee for Restorative Justice at the Ministry of Justice. Details about the work of the group can be found below.
Marcus has recently been offered a role as an advisor on the Experts in Restorative Justice Group with the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry has established this Experts Group (Restorative Justice) to advise and assist their vision for building good quality, victim-focused restorative justice to be available at all stages of the criminal justice system in the United Kingdom.
Role of the group
The group will work with the Ministry of Justice to:
- Provide expert feedback and recommendations in relation to the Restorative Justice Action Plan for the criminal justice system.
- Support the Ministry of Justice to raise awareness of, improve access to and ensure safe and competent restorative justice.
- Discuss and identify emerging topics and issues.
- Provide advice and contribute to communicating specifically with the group members’ stakeholders and colleagues as well as the wider public.
There are a number of steps to Criminal Justice processes at which restorative Justice can be introduced…..But with regards to culture change – the elephant in the room…that so many people miss sight of….. the victims focus.
The stages of criminal justice system are (roughly):-
- Pre-charge
- Pre-sentence
- Post – conviction
- Pre-release
- Community re-integration
In North East Lincolnshire of course we have explored Justice for four years through the organised dialogues, and we have looked at compatibility of worldviews…..and essentially that’s what this work is all about. One view says: The Victim is the State – because a law has been broken. Another view says: The Victim is a person because they have suffered harm.
Another set of worldviews are about wrongdoing. One view says: When you break a law you become a bad person. Another view says: When you break a law it’s your behaviour that is questionable…not you the person.