Restorative Justice Action Plan 2019 - 23

Outcome 1: Restorative Justice is available across Scotland

Organisation

• Work to develop a policy for RJ in Scotland continues. This will include ongoing consultation with people who have experienced harm and stakeholders. A draft for further consultation is anticipated for late summer 2023 in order to allow ongoing testing of RJ cases in the Sheriffdom and through Thriving Survivors to influence practice. 
• The RJ World Café Research Project: The CJS RJ team hosted 2 one-to-one interviews in April and June with individuals with lived experience of harm to discuss their views on trauma informed restorative justice and its principles. We recognise that people who cause harm are likely to have experienced harm themselves and these research interviews provided an opportunity to speak about harm from both perspectives. Both interviews were very informative and provided an insight into the additional support people may need to take part in RJ, as well as addressing additional needs they might have. Further World Cafés and interviews are planned to take place in the coming months, with a focus on those who have caused harm in July and August, and also for professionals. 

• In June, CJS chaired a meeting with the CJPs from the Sheriffdom Lothian and Borders Development Group to discuss possible RJ case examples that will support the evaluation of the initial test site and to ensure the CJPs were fully up to date with the development of the practice and policy framework. One case has been identified to date, and the RJ Project Lead is working with stakeholders to identify an appropriate service to take this forward, and a framework for progress measurement. 
• CJS have recruited two new RJ staff members in May 2023: the RJ Project Lead focussing on the planning, monitoring, delivery and evaluation of the RJ Initial test project, and an RJ Administrative Officer. Both posts commenced in June and July.

Organisation

Progress

• The Children and Young People's Centre for Justice have continued to support Community Justice Scotland to write a practice and policy framework ensuring that the language and content reflects the rights and needs of children and young people. 
• Engagement work took place with 3 groups of children and young people this quarter facilitated by a participation worker and RJ coordinator. These groups included a local youth group, and two groups from Drumchapel High (a group with additional support needs and a group taking part in an alternative curriculum). The work took place over 6 weeks and aimed to gain their views on what a restorative justice service should look like, including where it should take place and who should facilitate it. The outcome will be used to develop RJ standards for children and young people which will support practitioners to improve their practice and ensure that it is child-friendly and meets their needs. It is also envisaged that this work will influence the practice and policy framework being developed by CJS. 
• The restorative justice chapter of the ‘Children and young people in conflict with the law: policy, practice and legislation’ guidance has now been published and is available here.

Outcome 2: Restorative Justice is delivered by highly trained and skilled facilitators

Organisation

Progress

• The Restorative Justice Learning Module, aimed to support operational staff to improve their understanding and knowledge of RJ, is now complete. It will be accessible via the CJS Restorative Justice Learning Hub. In order to fully integrate the module into the CJS website, this will form part of the organisation’s ongoing work to improve website access and content. It is anticipated the module will be available to use by the end of 2023.

Organisation

Progress

• Discussion has taken place with Tim Chapman in relation to training specific to children rights and restorative justice. This has been costed and is being considered by the Scottish Government. The training would be delivered in a ‘train the trainers’ model, supporting a sustainable approach.

Outcome 3: There is a public awareness and understanding of Restorative Justice across Scotland

Organisation

Progress

• On 11 May,  the CJS Head of RJ attended the RJ Leaders’ Summit in London, hosted by the RJ Council. This focussed on improved communication on RJ at a national level, and to a range of audiences. The Scottish inputs around policy, communication and national development were well received. An input received from the Black Restorative Network in the afternoon also supported an excellent discussion and learning on communication across a range of diverse audiences. 
• In this quarter, the CJS learning hub’s section providing Restorative Justice content has been viewed 818 times by 459 individual users, and generated 3,318 engagements.
• In June, CJS organised and chaired a half day communications workshop with the RJ Project group composed of CJS, CYCJ, Thriving Survivors and the Scottish Government, focusing on the public and stakeholder engagement for this year. The invitation has also been extended to each organisation’s comms teams, and the knowledge and expertise of those who attended proved to be a huge asset in these discussions. The creative brainstorming session aimed to note communication approaches/methods to be used for each target audience to effect change and how they will be achieved. The day allowed the attendees to reflect on both external as well as internal communications, the work of the group done so far and what next steps should be. Another communications workshop is getting planned to take place, concentrating on the partnership working in communications around RJ, the outcome of which will aid the development of the Communications strategy. 
• At the European Forum for Restorative Justice Conference in Pamplona, Spain, the CJS Head of RJ delivered a workshop sharing the details of the progress made in Scotland on developing a policy for restorative justice. The workshops by colleagues and experts from across Europe have also provided insight into the processes and innovation used in other countries in developing RJ policy and legislation.

Organisation

Progress

• CYCJ continues to engage with various stakeholders including local authorities and third sector organisations. This quarter the team met with the Chief Inspector of prisons and the Governor of YOI Polmont to discuss restorative justice and restorative approaches in a custodial setting. Discussions are taking place in relation to the work that is currently ongoing and how CYCJ can support them to progress this. Furthermore, discussions are ongoing with the Fire and Rescue Service in relation to what role they could play in developing restorative justice approaches nationally. 
• Following feedback from the engagement sessions with local authorities, a half day information sharing session – aka a roadshow - is now being developed specifically in relation to restorative justice and children in conflict with the law. This is due to be delivered in the next quarter. 
• In collaboration with the Scottish Network of Restorative Justice Researchers (SNRJR), plans are underway to hold a webinar later this year in relation to restorative justice, rights, needs and voices of children and young people. The webinar aims to cover what RJ can offer children and young people, what it could look like and how children could influence the development of RJ in Scotland.

Restorative Justice Animation

Useful documents

Contacts