Restorative Justice Action Plan 2019 - 23

Outcome 1: Restorative Justice is available across Scotland

Organisation

• The draft of the Restorative Justice Policy Framework is currently with the Scottish Government and Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice for comments and amendments. The document also requires expert input on data and information sharing. Once this has been completed, stakeholders will be consulted on this and comments invited. It is hoped this will take place by Spring 2024.
• Restorative Justice features as a workstream within the Transformational Change Programme ‘Person Centred and Trauma Informed’ under the Vision for Justice in Scotland. To support this, CJS provided an input into the Programme Definition Document which is now with the Scottish Government for sign off. The document captures work to date and activity aimed at achieving outcomes over the coming year, and once completed, it will drive the project management approach to be taken in the delivery of RJ in Scotland.
• This quarter CJS is working on the RJ Delivery Model Options Appraisal process with a view to submitting a paper outlining potential models to the Scottish Government for their consideration in early January 2024. The HM Treasury Green Book method is used to undertake the work and as part of this process, an options generation and appraisal workshop has taken place in November with a small and focused group of national stakeholders. The product of this workshop is a shortlist of options including a “do minimum” option, two intermediate options and a “do maximum” option. The decision as to which, if any, option is funded will be made by the Scottish Government. We anticipate that if an option is funded, a phased approach would be taken and there would be planning, consultation and lead in time to ensure any RJ service developed is safe, robust and able to meet the needs of those engaging with it. 
• CJS is working with two service providers to deliver three RJ test cases, one in East Lothian and two in an island setting. We are currently in the early stages of partnership working with the providers and will be monitoring these cases to learn more about RJ processes in practice, including referral pathways, information sharing, grievance procedures and onward referrals. Space2Face is delivering two cases in the islands as part of our test work and has reported the consents have already been signed and all parties have agreed to participate in a facilitated face-to-face RJ meeting.

Organisation

Progress

• Engagement with children and young people has continued throughout this quarter. The team worked with two groups of primary aged children to explore their views and understanding of restorative justice. This involved a lot of preparatory work to ensure that sessions were pitched appropriately and with messages and feedback clear and purposeful.
• Know your rights document was published in both an interactive online version and a leaflet from. The purpose of this resource is to support children and young people to navigate the restorative justice process using information that the children and young people we engaged with felt was important. This resource supports children to understand their rights and is split into 9 sections: what type of process; your opinion matters; someone with you; voluntary; feeling safe; your best interests; preparing for the meetings; and follow up with your facilitator.
• Another document was produced for practitioners carrying out restorative justice processes. “Key messages from children and young people” highlights the important points that children and young people want practitioners to know when carrying out a restorative justice process.
• Meetings and engagement continues between partners in relation to Restorative Justice development including Education Scotland and Youthlink Scotland.
• CYCJ attended an options appraisal workshop hosted by Community Justice Scotland. This allowed for potential options for Restorative Justice delivery moving forward to have the rights and needs of children and young people considered and included. Following this session meetings have taken place between CYCJ and CJS to develop a paper for the Scottish Government.
• An information sheet, Creating Restorative Communities, was published in collaboration with Education Scotland. This resource explores how restorative approaches can improve community cohesion, strengthen relationships and increase public confidence in restorative justice with the aim of sifting culture and mind set away from punitive processes. 

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

Organisation

Progress

• Following discussion and planning, CYCJ will host training on the 5^th and 6^th of February 2024 on ‘Restorative Justice from a Children’s Rights Perspective’ delivered by Professor Tim Chapman and Dr Annemieke Wolthuis of the European Forum for Restorative Justice. This training will explore the intersection between restorative justice and trauma-informed practice and look at how these approaches can be combined in order to uphold the rights of children in conflict with the law. Applications for this course are currently open and places will be allocated dependent on the skills, experience and ability of applicant’s to carry out cases in their current role. It is hoped that this criteria will allow the impact of the course to be maximised and increase delivery of restorative justice across Scotland.

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

Organisation

      Progress

• In this quarter, the CJS learning hub’s section providing Restorative Justice content has been viewed 432 times by 302 individual users, and generated 1,620 engagements.
• Two new blogs, How Restorative Justice Can Repair The Broken and Heal The Harm and Raising Awareness and Advocacy for Restorative Justice in Scotland, were published during the Restorative Justice Week 2023, highlighting RJ’s transformative impact for both persons who experienced and caused harm, and the importance of communication, education and society’s active engagement in helping RJ to reshape the way people experience justice.
• In this quarter, CJS team has attended a number of meetings with stakeholders and also provided inputs on RJ to school pupils, sheriffs and other justice as well as social work professionals. These include a talk at Edinburgh Sheriff’s Court and a keynote speech at the annual Sheriff’s Conference, a workshop at North Lanarkshire Conference and a CYCJ Roadshow in East Lothian. CJS have also delivered workshops at the George Watson’s College Advanced Higher Crime and Justice Conference to students from across Edinburgh and the Lothians.

• The work is underway to update the RJ animation video in order to reflect the current landscape of RJ service development across Scotland as well as improve the engagement tool’s accessibility. The script has been edited to remove time-bound information following the Scottish Government’s deadline extension for delivering the RJ Action Plan and its outcomes. CJS and CYCJ are partnering to produce a new voice-over for the video, with the recording scheduled to take place on the 18^th of January 2024 at the University of Strathclyde. The newest version of the animation is anticipated to be released online by mid-February 2024 and the link for the tool will be circulated to the stakeholders.

Organisation

Progress

• CYCJ have provided various inputs on Restorative Justice within this quarter including the North Lanarkshire Justice Conference, East Lothian Council and Dundee University.
• A blog, Nuggets of Wisdom – Children and Young People’s Perspectives on Restorative Justice, was published during the Restorative Justice Week 2023 highlighting some of the learning from the engagement with children and young people so far.
• A podcast episode with Professor Tim Chapman was published as part of CYCJ’s Creative Conversations. It explores how restorative justice differs from ‘restorative practice’ or ‘restorative approaches’, the need for RJ facilitators to examine their own conscious and unconscious biases and the relationship between children’s rights and restorative justice.
• In collaboration with the Scottish Network of Restorative Justice Researchers (SNRJR) a webinar took place in relation to Restorative justice, rights, needs and voices of children and young people. It aimed to cover what RJ can offer children and young people, what it could look like and how children and young people could influence the development of RJ in Scotland. The webinar was attended by around 30 practitioners and allowed for discussion and develop thinking in this area.

Restorative Justice Animation

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