Increasing Access to Community-Based Restorative Justice
Open Circle believes all victim survivors of sexual harm should have access to community-based restorative responses to address harm. These responses have been shown to meet the needs of people who have experienced harm and who have used sexual violence – but they are not widely available.
Stakeholders know the justice system is not providing many victim survivors with a meaningful sense of justice, and support the wider use of restorative justice as an option for those who want it. But there are a number of barriers to restorative justice being more widely accessible – including a lack of awareness about its effectiveness and availability, concerns about how it interacts with criminal justice processes and a lack of funding for services to provide it.
Open Circle is leading a call to address these barriers and make restorative justice available to all victim survivors who wish to explore it.
We are asking for:
- Legislation that would ensure victim survivors of sexual violence receive information about restorative justice at points where they interact with the police, health and counselling services.
- Reform to legislation to guide interactions of community-based restorative responses with the justice system, including ensuring confidentiality of processes and participation not limiting any party’s legal rights or interests.
- Dedicated funding to community organisations to provide restorative responses, upskill workforces, implement consistent guidelines and support community awareness-raising activities.
- Funding for First Nations organisations to design and implement self-determined restorative justice models
To read more about the ways increased access to community-based restorative responses to sexual harm will better address the stated needs of victim survivors and the wider community, read our briefing paper.
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Email: open.circle@rmit.edu.au
Phone: 03 9925 7708