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Restorative Justice

What is restorative justice?

Restorative justice is an alternative way of dealing with crime and conflict. It actively involves the parties affected by a crime or conflict in a safe dialogue to resolve the crime or conflict and its impact. It allows offenders to take accountability for their actions, victims to have a voice and achieve redress and the community to play a part in repairing the harm caused and preventing further offending or conflicts.

Restorative approaches are applied in a variety of settings including:

• neighbourhoods
• schools
• criminal matters
• workplaces.

What is the connection between the Neighbourhood Justice Centre and restorative justice?

Like other community justice centres overseas, including Red Hook and North Liverpool, restorative justice is a central concept for the Neighbourhood Justice Centre (NJC).

Restorative justice has been enshrined in the legislation establishing the NJC court, which reflects the importance of restorative justice to the workings of the NJC.