Page 648 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 March 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Nine out of 10 results concluded that restorative justice conferences were more effective than simply matters going to court alone. For victims who participate in restorative justice, the evidence is very clear. Victims who are part of restorative justice are more satisfied with their restorative justice experience than those who have seen their matters simply dealt with in court.
Restorative justice was more effective than court in reducing post-traumatic stress experienced by victims, especially victims of violent crime. The review also reported a reduction in the desire in victims, especially victims of violent crime, to seek personal revenge. These are really good outcomes for victims from restorative justice. They feel more satisfied and experience less post-traumatic stress as a result of being part of restorative justice compared to simply going to court.
The ACT has had a very successful restorative justice scheme. It has provided a great deal of material on restoration for victims. In restorative justice conferencing victims are more likely to receive material restoration—that is, some form of material recompense, whether that is voluntary labour by the offender, whether it is a payment or whether it is some other recompense. Restorative justice victims generally rated that as less important than court victims.
The review identified the real strengths of restorative justice. This is an important review for the territory. It will be used to inform our decision-making as to whether or not restorative justice should be extended to other parts of the criminal justice system. But the evidence is clear: restorative justice gives us great capacity to improve outcomes for victims, to reduce re-offending and to save taxpayers’ money, and that surely has to be a positive thing for our justice system.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Attorney, can you please outline how restorative justice is faring in the ACT since its implementation nine years ago?
MR CORBELL: Of course, restorative justice was first commenced by one of my predecessors in this office, Attorney-General Terry Connolly. It has been supported by ministers on both sides of this house subsequently. It has been a very important program. Since the scheme began the restorative justice unit has convened over 600 face-to-face conferences, 377 indirect conferences involving over 1,300 victims of crime, 307 supporters of those victims, 1,244 young offenders, and 1,344 supporters of young offenders.
As a result, over 1,200 individual agreements have been finalised with outcomes achieved, including 840 hours worked by young offenders for the benefit of their victims, 6,203 hours worked by young offenders for the benefit of the community, 4,200 hours completed by young offenders at counselling and other programs, over $143,000 paid by young offenders to their victims in reparation, and over $4,700 worth of donations paid by young offenders to community organisations.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video