{"id":2173,"date":"2013-05-02T15:40:58","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T14:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/?page_id=2173"},"modified":"2013-05-02T15:40:58","modified_gmt":"2013-05-02T14:40:58","slug":"restorative-justice-case-study","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/vanel.org.uk\/va\/projects\/restorative-justice\/restorative-justice-case-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Restorative Justice case study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Restorative Practices
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the past few years North East Lincolnshire has been active in using Restorative Justice \/ Restorative Practices to tackle crime and justice in a fresh way.<\/p>\n

Marcus Czarnecki is the Restorative Justice Champion for North East Lincolnshire and has led on using and introducting Restorative Practices across the borough.<\/p>\n

With a number of years of experience in this field, Restorative Justice is clearly a powerful alternative approach.<\/p>\n

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\"RJpic\"<\/a>Towards a Restorative Borough<\/strong><\/p>\n

North East Lincolnshire is moving towards the concept of being a Restorative Borough.<\/p>\n

The central idea that Restorative Practice underpins a seamless approach to relationships – discipline, punishment, behaviour management, boundary setting and conflict \u2013 to ensure that people are happier in 15 years time. Less crime, higher emotional intelligence, higher taking of responsibility for the self naturally lending itself to lower recidivism and fewer entrants into the Criminal Justice System.<\/p>\n

The ideals of this are worth pursuing and we have been working on these practices for the past few years.<\/p>\n

So what is Restorative Justice?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The fundamental unifying hypothesis of restorative practices is disarmingly simple: that human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behaviour when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them. This hypothesis maintains that the punitive and authoritarian to mode and the permissive and paternalistic for mode are not as effective as the restorative, participatory, engaging with mode. If this restorative hypothesis is valid, then it has significant implications for many disciplines.<\/p>\n

Restorative practices is the science of building social capital and achieving social discipline through participatory learning and decision-making<\/p>\n

In North East Lincolnshire we are trying to build a restorative borough<\/strong> \u2013 (with an eye to communities, relationships and safety in the future) but which also touches on the victims agenda of the now. In becoming a restorative borough we are working with conflict, crime, behaviour, justice, punishment and discipline in all areas of social life \u2013 literally from the cradle to the grave.<\/p>\n

The benefits of restorative justice to victims of all crimes is profound and well documented and has been explored through several pilots.<\/p>\n

However, it is more about the values with which human beings are treated by systems rather than the way justice is done that will really change things.<\/p>\n

For the harm (that is a true by-product of crime) to be genuinely repaired requires real justice done in an authentic, inclusive and non symbolic way.<\/p>\n

In criminal justice it is the State that sees itself as the Victim. Through due process the human victim is silenced and rendered obsolete.<\/p>\n

Criminal Justice asks<\/p>\n