Page 4672 - Week 12 - Thursday, 1 November 2018
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justice for these kinds of offences. Extensive consultation has taken place with victim advocacy agencies, criminal justice agencies, and non-government agencies, including men’s, women’s and young people’s support agencies, and across the disability, multicultural, youth and women’s advocacy sectors over a significant period in order to shape a guideline that reflects an ethical and philosophically mature practice. The guideline is intended to outline how restorative justice will be applied and how particular components of the process will be emphasised in the management of sexual and family violence offences. It is a separate document to the detailed operational manual that will be used by conveners.
Examples of the matters addressed in the guideline include a more stringent assessment of the suitability of participants, knowing that much information may be initially hidden as family members may seek to minimise impacts on partners and relatives or protect the reputation of the family. The restorative justice unit will gather information from broader and specialist sources in order to accurately gauge motivations for participation and a realistic understanding of risk levels. Any conference plans will include safety measures that should align with existing safety plans and provide a strong foundation for careful communication and engagement throughout the restorative justice conferencing process. The staff of the restorative justice unit will safeguard the autonomy of individuals and their coercion-free decision-making throughout the process.
The guideline makes it clear that those who have caused the harm will be expected to engage with an educational or therapeutic service provider to do the personal inner work of challenging their attitudes and behaviour in order to strengthen their acceptance of responsibility for engaging in harmful behaviours, increasing their empathy and accountability to others, and raising their ability to rely on non-violent solutions to problems.
Those who have experienced harm will be strongly encouraged to access specialist supports if they have not already done so. Where a victim refuses to engage with specialist support and appears too vulnerable in the process, the matter may be found unsuitable to proceed to conference. The guideline makes it clear that victims will have the opportunity to be involved in the design of the conference. For example, they can establish how much detail about the offence gets included and in what order the victim would prefer to speak in the conference. A victim may choose a supporter to speak to particular aspects of a crime.
The guideline highlights the flexibility that restorative justice has to meet the needs of its most vulnerable participants, including people with a disability, young people, the elderly, those from diverse cultural backgrounds and those who form part of minority groups such as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and the LGBTIQ community.
The guideline makes reference to the possibility of cooling-off periods when restorative justice agreements are constructed in a conference for a family violence or sexual offence matter. This allows the victim time to further consider the implications of the terms of an agreement and to seek appropriate advice, including legal advice, on its content or request changes prior to signing. Restorative justice conveners will
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