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Restorative Justice the New Zealand picture

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Maori organisations Iwi (tribe) organisations may ... outcomes for Maori and PI. Extension of RJ pre-sentence ... Benefits for Maori and Pacific ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Restorative Justice the New Zealand picture


1
Restorative Justicethe New Zealand picture
2
Restorative Justicethe New Zealand picture
  • Julia Hennessy
  • Senior Policy Advisor
  • Restorative Justice Unit
  • Ministry of Justice, New Zealand

3
The restorative justice landscape
4
  • RJ in the adult criminal justice system
  • 30 community-based providers Crime Prevention
    Unit and Courts contracts
  • Community panels
  • Victim-offender conferences
  • and variations
  • Community-based RJ providers
  • not staff of justice agencies
  • Mostly small Charitable Trusts
  • Maori organisations Iwi (tribe) organisations
    may provide a range of services, including health
    and health promotion, education etc

5
  • Legislative framework
  • Sentencing Act 2002 allows, and requires, Judges
    to take RJ outcomes into account
  • Parole Act 2002, RJ to be taken into account in
    decisions about parole of prisoners
  • Victims Rights Act 2002, agencies to hold
    meetings between victims and offenders - where
    parties wish to meet and resources are available
  • Corrections Act 2004, Parole Board to take RJ
    process into account when making decisions on
    release of offenders

6
  • Principles of Best Practice for Restorative
    Justice in Criminal Cases
  • Consultation
  • Published along with statement of values 2003
  • Voluntary
  • Full participation of the victim offender
  • Participants are well-informed
  • Offender held accountable
  • Flexibility and responsiveness
  • Emotional and physical safety
  • Effective process
  • Should only be undertaken in appropriate cases

7
Court-referred restorative justice pilotRJ for
serious offences by adults
8
  • Began September 2001
  • Moderately serious offences
  • Max penalty 2 yrs imprisonment or more
  • Nothing that can be diverted
  • Excluded Family Violence, Sexual Offences
  • 4 District Courts
  • Chosen for volume, judicial attitude, cultural
    mix

9
Court-referred restorative justice pilot process
Offender pleads guilty
Offender sentenced
10
Evaluation
11
Objectives Increased victim involvement Increased
victim satisfaction Reduced re-offending
12
Results for victims
  • Positive experience
  • Would recommend to others
  • Would participate again
  • Satisfied with agreements, conferences and
    sentences
  • Low uptake by victims
  • lt 40 referrals went to conference

Victim satisfaction declined over time
13
Results for offenders
  • reduced reconviction
  • 32 compared with 36
  • more involved in addressing offending behaviour
  • satisfied with process agreements
  • reduced imprisonment
  • 14 compared with 19
  • reduced length of imprisonment
  • 444 days compared with 533 days

14
Effective interventions
15
Prison population - the defined problem
  • inmate population significantly exceeds forecasts
  • March 2006 - New Zealand gt7,000 in prison
  • by 2010 will be 9,000
  • New Zealand will have 2nd highest rate of
    imprisonment in western world
  • Exceeding capacity forecasts
  • Recorded crime has shown a steady decrease over
    two decades

16
  • Maori
  • 17 of population
  • 51 of prison population
  • 3 times more likely than non-Maori to be arrested
    for criminal offence
  • more likely to be prosecuted, convicted and
    receive prison sentences
  • 1/3 more likely to be victim of crime
  • twice as likely to be victims of violence
  • higher rate of domestic violence

17
  • Pacific Island peoples
  • 8 of population
  • 11 of prison population
  • over-represented in violent offending statistics
  • higher risk of being victims of violence than any
    other ethnic group

18
Effective interventions project
  • Justice sector agencies Police, Justice,
    Corrections (ie, probation and prisons), Social
    Development, Treasury
  • strategies to manage the inmate population
  • options to reduce the pressure on prisons
  • initiatives to address causes of crime and
    offending behaviour

19
The evidence base
  • Evidence from court-referred restorative justice
    pilot
  • Fewer and shorter sentences compared with matched
    offenders
  • Offenders more likely to be granted leave to
    apply for home detention
  • Small reduction in re-offending - measured over
    2 years
  • Shorter prison sentences 444 days compared with
    533 days.

20
The next step national expansion of restorative
justice
21
The next step
  • Aims
  • restorative justice available nationally at 3 key
    points
  • replicate results of court-referred restorative
    justice less use of imprisonment, reduction in
    re-offending
  • ensure quality of restorative justice provision
  • Developments
  • Budget bid 2007/08
  • National quality assurance framework initial
    work underway
  • Diversion
  • Pre-sentence
  • Prisoner reintegration

22
Performance framework
  • Quality of RJ provision outcome focused
  • Regional support structures and staff
  • Build providers capacity and capability - to
    meet identified need
  • Provide resources to enable providers to meet
    quality standards includes national training
    and assessment programme
  • Standards - contracts

To ensure consistent high-quality outcomes from
restorative justice processes
23
Extension of RJ in diversion
  • Restorative justice as option in Police Adult
    Diversion
  • new provision in 20 areas over 3 yrs
  • 1st focus high Maori PI offender areas
  • Evaluation
  • re-offending
  • outcomes for Maori and PI

24
Extension of RJ pre-sentence serious offences
  • Restorative justice pre-sentence service in
    serious offending
  • New provision in up to 9 new areas over 3 yrs
  • Guilty plea, victim involvement required
  • Evaluation can we repeat results of pilot?
  • re-offending
  • outcomes for Maori and PI

25
RJ in reintegration
  • 100 RJ conferences annually from 2 prison
    regions
  • RJ Coordinators based in prison reintegration
    team
  • RJ process spot-purchased from community-based
    providers quality standards
  • 3 years initially staged rollout if successful
    re victim satisfaction reduced re-offending

26
Cost benefits
  • Prison beds
  • 25 beds annually at 70,000 pa total saving of
    175,000 annually
  • Increased number of offenders given leave to
    apply for home detention
  • Suggests increased use of home detention as a
    sentence
  • Other savings small

27
Other benefits
  • Increased capacity and capability of local RJ
    providers
  • Benefits for Maori and Pacific Island people
  • Victims and offenders have increased access to
    restorative justice at all stages in the criminal
    justice system

While the new developments have been driven by
financial and other pressure on the prison
system, the benefits will be felt by victims, the
families of offenders, and all those affected by
offending.
28
The new landscape
  • 60 community-based RJ providers 3 years
  • Local interagency advisory groups to ensure
    provision continues to meet needs
  • National training and assessment of practitioners
  • Monitoring and support of quality standards by
    Ministry of Justice

29
  • RJ Unit Ministry of Justice national and
    field roles
  • RJ Centre Auckland University of Technology
    multi-disciplinary, tertiary centre for training,
    education and research into RJ theory and
    practice
  • Restorative Justice Aotearoa new national body
    for RJ practitioners

30
Challenges
  • how to be victim-centred in an offender-focused
    system
  • how to create quality standards that allow for
    flexibility and growth of process
  • how to recognise and build on traditional Maori
    and PI processes and allow flexibility

31
www.justice.govt.nz
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