Serving Crime Victims Through Restorative Justice
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SERVING CRIME VICTIMS THROUGH RESTORATIVE JUSTICE A Resource Guide for Leaders and Practitioners Produced by: Written by: Catherine Bargen Alan Edwards Matthew Hartman Jennifer Haslett Aaron Lyons ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Alberta Restorative Justice Association, and the authors of this Guide, gratefully acknowledge the many people over the years who have influenced our thinking as we have grappled with the practice of restorative justice and the development of programs. In particular, we would like to express our deep appreciation to all of those who contributed their time, energy and experiences to shaping this piece of work. To those who volunteered their time and expertise as Advisory Committee members, for their vision and leadership – Annette Stanwick, Barb Barclay, Brian Turpin, Bruce Stanley, Caroline Gosling, Jan Moran, Shirley Lyman and Wendy Moshuk. To all of the interviewees for their important perspectives, helping give context to the thinking and work going on in the restorative justice and victim-serving fields generally, and more specifically in Alberta. To the many individuals who reviewed earlier drafts of this document and who participated in the Study Day and offered their insightful comments. To Christopher Cameron who evaluated the project and organized the Study Day. To Susan Sharpe, whose feedback was so valuable in strengthening the work. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Department of Justice Canada. Reproduction of Serving Crime Victims Through Restorative Justice: A Resource Guide for Leaders and Practitioners All or part of this guide may be reproduced for training or information purposes. The publishers, Alberta Restorative Justice Association (ARJA) must be acknowledged whenever this occurs. The complete text may be found on ARJA’s web-site at www.arja.ca. For further information contact [email protected]. © 2018 Alberta Restorative Justice Association 2 | P a g e TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview ____________________________________________________________________ 5 Setting the Context ____________________________________________________________ 7 1 Introduction __________________________________________________________________ 7 2 Focus and Language __________________________________________________________ 10 3 Methodology ________________________________________________________________ 13 3.1 Research Team ______________________________________________________________________ 13 3.2 Guide Research Methodology __________________________________________________________ 13 4 Interview Findings ____________________________________________________________ 15 4.1 Victim Needs _______________________________________________________________________ 15 4.2 Why Victims Consider Participating _____________________________________________________ 15 4.3 Why Victims Do Not Participate ________________________________________________________ 16 4.4 Safety and Support in Restorative Justice ________________________________________________ 17 4.5 Restorative Justice Programs and Partnerships ____________________________________________ 18 4.6 Process and Practitioner Considerations _________________________________________________ 19 Literature Review ____________________________________________________________ 20 1 Defining Restorative Justice ____________________________________________________ 21 2 The Principle of Victim-Centredness _____________________________________________ 24 3 Victims’ Satisfaction with Restorative Justice ______________________________________ 27 3.1 Victims’ Concerns About Participation in Youth Justice Restorative Justice ______________________ 28 3.2 What Accounts for Victim Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction? __________________________________ 30 4 Victims’ Justice Needs _________________________________________________________ 34 4.1 Vindication and the ‘Wrong’ of Crime ___________________________________________________ 37 5 The Search for Best Practices in Restorative Justice _________________________________ 39 Victims and Restorative Justice: A Program and Practitioner Guide ____________________ 44 1 Navigating Restorative Justice with Integrity ______________________________________ 44 1.1 The Topographic Map: Seeing the Lay of the Land _________________________________________ 45 1.2 The Compass: Orienting to Values and Principles __________________________________________ 45 2 Working Restoratively with Victims of Crime: A Program Administrator’s Guide __________ 46 2.1 Introduction and Purpose of this Section _________________________________________________ 46 2.2 Effective Partnerships ________________________________________________________________ 47 Who are Your Partners? _________________________________________________________________ 47 How to Grow Partnerships with Victims and Their Service Providers _____________________________ 49 2.3 Program Development _______________________________________________________________ 51 A Principled Approach to Program Development _____________________________________________ 52 Representative Working Committee _______________________________________________________ 55 Commitments from Key Partners _________________________________________________________ 55 © 2018 Alberta Restorative Justice Association 3 | P a g e Starting from the Same Trailhead _________________________________________________________ 56 Assessment ___________________________________________________________________________ 56 Re-visioning ___________________________________________________________________________ 57 2.4 Monitoring and Evaluation ____________________________________________________________ 59 2.5 Referrals ___________________________________________________________________________ 61 The Timing of Referrals _________________________________________________________________ 61 By Whom Referrals are Made ____________________________________________________________ 62 2.6 Programs Offered ___________________________________________________________________ 62 2.7 Policy and Procedure _________________________________________________________________ 63 2.8 Training, Coaching and Mentoring ______________________________________________________ 63 Training Requirements __________________________________________________________________ 64 Topics for Training _____________________________________________________________________ 65 2.9 Communicating Publicly about RJ _______________________________________________________ 66 2.10 Conclusion _______________________________________________________________________ 68 3 Working Restoratively with Victims of Crime: A Practitioner’s Guide ___________________ 69 3.1 Introduction and Purpose of this Section _________________________________________________ 69 3.2 Crime and Recovery __________________________________________________________________ 69 3.3 A Mindset for Restorative Justice Practice ________________________________________________ 72 A Responsive Mindset __________________________________________________________________ 73 Offering Hope and Vision ________________________________________________________________ 76 Beyond Neutrality ______________________________________________________________________ 76 Conflict vs. Injustice ____________________________________________________________________ 78 Accompaniment _______________________________________________________________________ 79 Facilitator Presence ____________________________________________________________________ 79 3.4 Facilitator Skills _____________________________________________________________________ 82 Building Trusting Relationships ___________________________________________________________ 82 Silence _______________________________________________________________________________ 82 Questions ____________________________________________________________________________ 83 Assertion _____________________________________________________________________________ 83 Validation ____________________________________________________________________________ 84 Practitioner Knowledge and Professionalism ________________________________________________ 85 Reflective Practice _____________________________________________________________________ 85 Training ______________________________________________________________________________ 86 3.5 Accompanying Victims Through Restorative Justice Options _________________________________ 87 Case Development _____________________________________________________________________ 87 Facilitation __________________________________________________________________________ 102 Follow-up ___________________________________________________________________________ 107 3.6 Conclusion and Final Thoughts ________________________________________________________ 107 © 2018 Alberta Restorative Justice Association 4 | P a g e Serving Crime Victims Through Overview Restorative Justice OVERVIEW Restorative justice is being embraced by many communities within Alberta, Canada and internationally as a promising approach to criminal harm and victimization. The growth and development of this field requires ongoing efforts by its advocates to maintain fidelity to its core values and principles. A central principle of restorative justice is to support the involvement and voice of crime victims and survivors in justice. Serving Crime Victims Through Restorative Justice: A Resource Guide for Leaders and Practitioners is an expression of this commitment. This Guide, composed by a team of restorative justice