Canberra’s Restorative Justice Scheme has achieved an almost 100 per cent participant satisfaction rate in the two years since it was expanded to include sexual and family violence offences.
Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said the Territory’s world-leading restorative justice empowered victims of crime to meet with offenders and discuss how an offence affected them, which could promote offender accountability.
“The high level of satisfaction reported by participants shows that restorative justice is highly effective in reducing ongoing trauma experienced by victims of crime,” Mr Rattenbury said
“A 98 per cent satisfaction rate for family violence and sexual offences over the past two years confirms restorative justice is safe, respectful, fair and meaningful for victims,” he said.
Mr Rattenbury said restorative justice was a powerful method of building an offender’s understanding of the consequences of their actions.
“One example of this is seen in family violence agreements where there was an 87 per cent compliance rate,” the Minister said.
“An agreement is a formal requirement between a victim and offender for the person responsible to make amends and engage in activities designed to reduce violent behaviour,” he said.
Mr Rattenbury said that since November 2018 191 family violence offences and 15 sexual offences were referred for restorative justice; 22 per cent of victims participated in family violence conferences and 30 per cent of victims participated in sexual offence conferences; 40 per cent of young offenders and 10 per cent of adult offenders participated in conferences for family violence matters; and 40 per cent of adult offenders participated in conferences for sexual offences.
