A PILOT restorative justice scheme for prisoners who have committed serious crimes, was recommended in an interim report from the National Commission on Restorative Justice yesterday.
The scheme could help prisoners gain a deeper understanding of their crime and could be used where intervention was likely to decrease the prisoner’s likelihood of reoffending, the commission said. The voluntary participation of the victim of the crime would be a condition of such a scheme, the commission added.
The commission stressed that the scheme should not result in further victimisation but would help the victim to get more answers than possible through the criminal justice system.
The pilot scheme could be limited to 12 carefully scrutinised cases over a two-year period, the commission recommended.
Restorative justice is a relatively new concept that seeks to give the victim a voice and the offender a chance to undo the harm caused by crime.
It encourages victims and offenders to participate in a mediation process, leading in most cases to an agreed contract which can include personal commitments and reparation by the offender.
There are two pilot restorative justice projects in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and Tallaght, Dublin.
