Discovering Balance
Abstracts - Restorative justice stream
Session 10 Breakout 10, 9.45-11.00am, ECL1 - Chair: TBA.
Question time is included at the end of the breakout session
Working with victims of crime, offenders and the NSW community for reconciliation and healing
Kate Milner and Glenn Duhigg (Restorative Justice Unit, NSW Department of Corrective Services)
Home to the NSW Victims Register, the Restorative Justice Unit is the primary point of contact for victims of crime with a department strongly associated with the management of offenders. Established in 1999, the unit also specialises in conflict and dispute resolution. Team members facilitate victim-offender conferences in response to crimes including murder, manslaughter, armed robbery and sex offences. Kate and Glenn share a vision of Restorative Justice capable of transforming the conflict generated by criminal behaviour, healing people affected by the crime, enhancing human relationships and reintegrating offenders into the community. In this session Kate and Glenn will discuss the New South Wales experience in facilitating post-sentence victim-offender conferences and mediation with those affected by serious offences and provide an overview of practice and processes.
Session 10, Breakout 10
Date & Time: Saturday 4 October (9.45am)
Location: ECL1
Developing Restorative Justice practices in an Aboriginal Community in the NW of Western Australia
Christine Cigobia
Working among people within remote parts of WA in an attempt to examine what kind of restorative practices can be developed, this paper discusses the methods used to bring ideas out into the open, meet with major stakeholders and key non-Indigenous and Indigenous people, and establish protocols for trying to get RJ off of the ground.
Session 10, Breakout 10
Date & Time: Saturday 4 October (10.05am)
Location: ECL1
Supporting families of offenders through restorative practices
Ms Megan Peacock (VACRO)
The prison is a closed institution, a place where people are locked away from the community for punishment. However, this paper will argue that prisons need to open their doors to allow the community - including workers, families and friends - to enter in a metaphorical and physical sense. This is because imprisonment is the responsibility of the whole of government and community and currently the criminal justice system focuses primarily on the offence and the offender. Families can become traumatised and isolated due to the stigma and shame associated with crime, which is often compounded by damaging practices of the criminal justice system, VACRO's work with families of offenders addresses some of these issues. By isolating the family the prisoner can be left without supports which are pertinent to reintegration into the community. VACRO is working to support the whole family from arrest through to post release and is exploring the potential of restorative practices for this work.
Session 10, Breakout 10
Date & Time: Saturday 4 October (10.25am)
Location: ECL1