Justice values and the implementation of restorative justice in the UK

The paper concentrates upon the experience of trying to implement restorative justice (primarily mediation and conferencing) in the three jurisdictions of the United Kingdom: England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. In all three, though at different times, the government has sought to make restorative justice for criminal offences available throughout the country and at different stages of criminal justice – for both adults and young offenders in England and Wales, and in Scotland, and for young offenders in Northern Ireland. However, accessing restorative justice remains quite difficult. This is not due to negative evaluation results, but seems to be linked to the working practices and views of those working in the criminal justice system. After briefly outlining the evaluation results on the satisfaction of victims, reduction of re-offending and value for money, the paper turns to the stages and values of restorative justice, to see where these implementation problems may arise. It focuses upon the many steps required to ensure the core values of being voluntary and safe, and the difficulties of making the offer of restorative justice to those who have been harmed, before considering the Northern Ireland situation for young offenders where restorative justice is on both a statutory and a mainstream basis. Finally, it proposes that the root difficulty is in relation to the ‘justice values’ held by key actors in criminal justice, which make carrying on along the criminal justice path without restorative justice both more routine and more familiar.