Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

Informal 
referrals
Police 
and/or
prosecution
referrals
Prosecution
referrals
Court 
referrals
Probation 
and 
corrections
referrals
Corrections 
or prison 
referrals
Parole 
agency 
and/or 
NGO
Post-conviction 
Pre-sentence
Post-charge 
Pre-conviction
Post-sentence 
Pre-reintegration
Post-confinement 
Re-integration
Pre-charge
Cases 
not coming 
to the attention 
of the criminal 
justice system
Restorative Justice

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family group conferencing; (c) circle sentencing; (d) peacemaking circles;
and, (e) reparative probation and community boards and panels. The
main characteristics of each model are presented here briefly and are sum-
marized in tables at the end of this section. 
2.2 Variation in criminal justice 
programmes
The various characteristics of existing programmes can be situated along
a number of continuums (see table 1). Existing programmes vary consid-
erably in formality; in how they relate to the criminal justice system; how
they are operated, in the level of involvement they encourage from various
parties, or in the main objectives they pursue. The view adopted in this
handbook is that a balance must always be achieved in order to fit the cir-
cumstances within which a programme is being developed (e.g. limits of
the existing legal framework, limited support from criminal justice offi-
cials, cultural obstacles, limited public support, limited means).
There is also considerable variation in the extent to which criminal justice
professionals participate in restorative processes. For example, the role of
justice professionals in circle sentencing, with the exception of formal
completion of legal tasks (e.g. prosecutor reading the charges, judge call-
ing the session to order), is limited. While prosecutors make recommen-
dations to the court in indictable offences and judges are asked for legal
input on what is required by statute, officials for the most part become
members of the circle, expressing their personal views of the offence,
offender and victim when it is their turn to speak. 
Although there is no perfect agreement on what constitute a “true”
restorative justice approach, these are mostly matters of choices needing
to be made carefully at the time of designing a new programme or strat-
egy. For a discussion of the controversies and disagreements that exist
around what constitutes the essential characteristics of restorative justice
programmes, see annex III.
A large proportion of restorative justice programmes are operated by pub-
lic sector organizations. There are court-based programmes, police-based
programmes, and programmes that are operated by not-for-profit organi-
zations in the community. While public sector agencies tend to utilize
professionals, community-based programmes generally rely on trained
volunteers from the community. 
While restorative justice programmes vary on a number of key dimen-
sions, there are also a number of commonalities. These are evident in the
description in the selection of programmes presented below. 
chapter 2
The use of restorative approaches

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HANDBOOK ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMMES
Position of programme in relation to the criminal justice system
Outside of the system