Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

Priority setting: Successful programmes soon have to face the issue of
prioritization in the delivery of services. It is not always possible to plan on
the basis of offering full mediation services to all those who might opt for
them. However, it can be difficult to justify presenting some victims with
chapter 4
From principles to practice: implementing restorative justice programmes
31 
See: Aertsen et al., (2004), p. 21.
32 
Kittayarak, 2005.
33 
See: Stubbs, 2004.

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the opportunity and to exclude others merely on the basis of the charac-
teristics of the offenders.
34
Clearly, one of the criteria that should influ-
ence priority setting should be the degree of importance that the process
has for the victims, even if one must still remain careful that this principle
is not applied in a manner that discriminates against certain offenders.
These choices also have implications for every other aspect of programme
design and operations (e.g., programme costs, cost-effectiveness, ability
to generate public support, ability to generate sufficient referrals, etc.). 
Standards for a programme (and in some cases national standards) are
required to guide referral and case acceptance decisions to ensure both
economy and effectiveness. The resources of each programme are neces-
sarily limited as are those of other agencies involved in the process.
Standards setting policies and prioritization guidelines should be based,
as far as possible, on empirical information about the demand and poten-
tial demand for services, the resources required for various tasks and for
each type of case.
Some services may deal with prioritization issues by developing fast-track
and intensive programmes to meet the needs of the lower and higher pri-
ority cases. Other services may decide to offer different levels of services to
different types of cases. In all instances, clear policies and guidelines to
facilitate decision-making by the programme personnel and referral agen-
cies will be important.
35
The priorities that will be established by a service
should also be discussed, and where feasible, negotiated with the referral
agencies. When the prioritization of cases does require assessing each dif-
ferent case in relation to a set of standards, adequate training should be
offered to all the professionals involved both within the programme and 
in the referral agencies. The impact of these standards on the caseload of
the programme and on its ability to achieve its objectives should be moni-
tored carefully.