The Northern Irish Model of Restorative Justice

1
The Northern Irish Model of Restorative Justice

• Tim Chapman
• University of Ulster

2
Northern Ireland and Restorative Justice

• Community system
• Community restorative justice Ireland
• Alternatives NI
• School system
• Childrens Services
• Family Group Conferences
• Childrens Units

• State system
• Low risk Police restorative cautioning
• Medium risk Public Prosecution Service referral
  for diversionary conference by Youth Conference
  Service
• High risk Youth Court referrals to Youth
  Conference Service
• Priority young offenders programme
• Prison Service rehabilitation and resettlement

3
Youth Conferences

• Statutory since 2003
• Mainstream
• Prosecution referred
• Youth court referred
• No cherry picking
• Referrals and ratification by PPS or Youth Court

4
The Balanced Model
Community
Community safety and reintegration
Harm
Person responsible for harm
Injured party
Reducing risk and working towards a better life
Accountability, protection and repairing the harm
5
Core Values

• Responsibility
• Relationship
• Respect

6
Models of addressing challenging
behaviour and its aftermath
High
Do with Respect Be restorative Inclusive Particip
ative Transformative
Do to Out of anger Be punitive Stigmatising Coerc
ive Punitive
Responsibility
Move away from Out of fear Be neglectful Indiffer
ent Passive Avoidance
Do for Out of sympathy Be permissive Protective I
nterventionist Rescuing
Low Relationship
High
Adapted form McCold and
Wachtels Social Discipline Window
7
The Youth Conference Process
Pre-Conference
Conference
Post Conference
8
The Dialogue Approach
Storytelling
Expression of emotion Dialogue on needs
and action
9
Measuring Effectiveness
10
Over 9,000 Referrals
Year Court PPS Total
2006/07 793 503 1,296
2007/08 1,129 802 1,931
2008/09 792 844 1,636
2009/10 891 949 1,840
2010/11 YTD 753 777 1,530
Total 4,358 3,875 8,233 February 2011
2010/11 Apr - Dec
11
Increasing proportion of disposals, reducing
custody, reducing reoffending
2006 2006 2006 2005 2005 2005
Baseline Disposal No. Re-Offending Total No. Re-Offending Total
Immediate Custody 29 41 70.7 43 59 72.9
Combination Order 6 9 - 7 16 -
Community Service Order 15 30 - 18 54 33.3
Probation Order 51 87 58.6 63 127 49.6
Attendance Centre Order 45 97 46.4 53 104 51.0
Community Responsibility Order 21 42 50.0 12 22 -
Community based disposals 138 265 52.1 153 323 47.4
Court Ordered Youth Conference 102 215 47.4 43 97 44.3
Div. Youth Conference Plan 63 223 28.3 23 75 30.7
All non-custodial disposals 452 1,110 40.7 409 1,091 37.5
ALL DISPOSALS 481 1,151 41.8 452 1,150 39.3
12
Outcomes for Youth Conferences

• Number of youth conferences 9,000
• Over 50,000 people have participated in a youth
  conference
• Victim attendance around 70
• Victim and young person satisfaction 90 and
  95
• 8 out of 10 victims prefer the youth conference
  to the traditional court process
• 100 victims would recommend conferences to
  others
• 94 successful completion of plans
• England and Wales put three times as many young
  people into custody as Northern Ireland

13
Success Factors
14
Consistent practice

• Robust research based practice model
• Practice manual
• Performance targets
• Supervision

15
Commitment to professional development

• Accredited training
• Supporting the increasing demands of practice

16
Courses

• Three modules
• Undergraduate certificate
• Postgraduate Certificate
• Six modules
• Postgraduate certificate
• Postgraduate diploma
• Nine modules or dissertation
• Masters

17
Students

• Open Course 23 students
• Youth Conference Service 48 students
• Police Service 80 students
• Community Restorative Justice 38 students
• Prison Service 38 Students
• Youth Justice Agency 66 Students
• Priority Young Offenders Programme 30 Students
• Family Group Conferences 40 Students

18
University Modules

• Foundation skills
• Reflecting on Restorative Practice
• Responding restoratively to people who have been
  harmed
• Responding restoratively to people responsible
  for harm
• Enhancing restorative skills
• Family group conference practice and processes
• Building a restorative society

• Restorative responses to sexual harm
• Restorative responses to serious and persistent
  harmful behaviour
• The restorative prison
• The restorative school
• The restorative community
• The restorative organisation
• The restorative childrens home
• Restorative practices and faith organisations

19
Effective Practice

• External evaluation
• Performance targets
• Continuous improvement

20
Building Blocks
Innovative Practice
Effective Practice
Competent Practice
Consistent Practice
21
Challenges Ahead
22
YCS Referrals By Young Person
No. of Referrals No. young people of young people Cumulative of young people
1 2,831 63.1 63.1
2 748 16.7 79.8
3 315 7.0 86.8
4 212 4.7 91.5
5 107 2.4 93.9
6 80 1.8 95.7
7 51 1.1 96.9
8 38 0.8 97.7
9 32 0.7 98.4
10 20 0.4 98.9
11-30 51 1.1 100.0
Total Referrals 8,995 - -
No. young people 4,485 - -
23
Priority Youth Offenders Project

• Intensive relationship
• Circle of Support and Accountability

24
Other challenges

• Updating practice gt revise practice manual
• Rebalancing the state and community programmes
• Prison reform

25
Thank you

• Contact
• tj.chapman_at_ulster.ac.uk