Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

parties to take responsibility,
particularly by the offenders
앫 Identify restorative, forward-
looking outcomes
앫 Prevent recidivism by 
encouraging change in individual
offenders and facilitating their
reintegration into the community
7 
General Assembly resolution 40/34 of 29 November 19985, para. 7.

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to assume responsibility for their behaviour and its consequences. A
restorative process moves from merely assessing legal guilt to attempting
to determine responsibility for a conflict and it consequences. Active
acknowledgment and acceptance of personal responsibility for the crime
and its consequences, rather than a mere passive one imposed by others,
is what is being encouraged. Others who had a role to play in the offence
or the circumstances that led to it are also encouraged to assume respon-
sibility for their part in the incident. This has the effect of broadening out
the process beyond the specific incident, victim and offender. The man-
ner in which this responsibility will lead to action, in particular apologies
and restoration, is left to be determined through the process itself and not
through the automatic application of some general legal rules. At its best,
the process may lead the offender not only to assume responsibility but
also to experience a cognitive and emotional transformation and improve
his or her relationship with the community and, depending upon the par-
ticular circumstance, with the victim and the victim’s family. 
(e) Identifying restorative, forward-looking outcomes. Rather than emphasiz-
ing the rules that have been broken and the punishment that should be
imposed, restorative approaches tend to focus primarily on the persons
who have been harmed. A restorative justice process does not necessarily
rule out all forms of punishment (e.g. fine, incarceration, probation), but
its focus remains firmly on restorative, forward-looking outcomes. The
restorative outcome that is being pursued is the repair, as far as possible,
of the harm caused by the crime by providing the offender with an oppor-
tunity to make meaningful reparation. Restorative justice is relationship
based and strives for outcomes that satisfy a wide group of stakeholders. 
(f) Reducing recidivism by encouraging change in individual offenders and
facilitating their reintegration into the community. The past behaviour of
individuals and its consequences are clearly a central preoccupation of the
restorative process, but so is the offender’s future behaviour. An
offender’s undertaking as it relates to his or her future behaviour is usually
an essential component of agreements arrived at through mediation or
other restorative processes. Transforming or “reforming” the offender
through the restorative process is a legitimate objective of the process and
so is the prevention of recidivism. The insistence that offenders understand
and accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions is clearly
meant to affect the offenders’ future behaviour. It is understood that the
community and statutory agencies have a role to play in this process.
(g) Identifying factors that lead to crime and informing authorities responsible
for crime reduction strategy. The restorative process is an open one that
encourages frank discussion of the background of the offence in a spirit of
explanation rather than making excuses. If, for example, this reveals that
offenders come from areas with particular deficits, action can be taken to
remedy the problem. 
chapter 1