Handbook on Restorative justice programmes

HANDBOOK ON RESTORATIVE JUSTICE PROGRAMMES
56 
Shapland,  et al., 2004, p. 55.
57 
Shapland,  et al., 2004, p. 49.
58 
Kittayarak, 2005.

---

73
mechanisms and procedures as well as clear agreements among law
enforcement and criminal justice officials on how and when they will use
their discretion to refer cases to a restorative process. When designing a
new programme, one must take very seriously, and address, the legitimate
concerns of officials who ultimately are accountable for these referral
decisions and how they are perceived by the victims and the community.
Ideally, these officials should themselves be involved in the development
of the programme and its referral criteria and procedures so that they may
themselves develop a personal sense of ownership over the programme
and its future success.
Clearly, making it compulsory for officials to refer individuals to a pro-
gramme to which the latter must first consent to participate raises some
practical difficulties. Some countries have chosen to encourage or
increase discretionary referrals by making it compulsory for certain offi-
cials, at certain points in the criminal justice process to consider referring
a case to a restorative programme. This may be helpful, but it is not a sat-
isfactory substitute for the articulation of clear referral guidelines, proce-
dures and criteria. 
Another way in which referrals can be encouraged in the long term is by
ensuring that referrals to the programme always lead to timely feedback
and communication with the individual or agency responsible for the
referral. These communications should include information about the
outcome of the cases that were referred, the reasons why a particular case
may not have proceeded successfully, the nature of the agreements that
were reached, testimonials from the victims (and not just the positive
ones), and whether compliance with the agreement was achieved. 
Finally, members of referring agencies can sometimes be invited to partic-
ipate in the process or part of it. They can also be provided periodically
with statistics, analytical reports and programme evaluation findings that
will raise their comfort level about referring more cases to the programme.
In brief, the managers or the agencies responsible for a programme must
carefully cultivate its relationship with the law enforcement and criminal
justice officials on whom it depends for referrals.