Projects

Youth Justice Board Key Elements of Effective Practice (KEEP).

In 2006-2008, on behalf of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales, the Centre undertook a systematic review of international and UK evidence on RJ in youth justice, and translation of that evidence into guidance for effective practice. The systematic review underlying the KEEP, as well as the KEEP guidance, were published in 2008.

Principal Investigators: Centre Director Heather Strang and Professor Lawrence Sherman.

Smith Institute Review of Evidence.

In 2006-7, on behalf of the Smith Institute of London, the Centre undertook an international review of evidence on the effectiveness of various policies for implementing restorative justice. The report, listed on the Centre’s publications page, was presented to a group of key policymakers, Ministers and members of Parliament at Number 11 Downing Street in November of 2007, and released to the public in early 2007 in a conference at the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, which provided funding for the project.

Principal investigators: Professor Lawrence Sherman and Centre Director Heather Strang.

Campbell Collaboration Systematic Review.

The Centre for Restorative Justice has been designated by the Campbell Crime and Justice Steering Group as the permanent international site for reviewing and synthesizing the results of world-wide experimental field tests of restorative justice. The purpose of the review is to use best available evidence to determine what works for whom in using face-to-face restorative justice conferences as a response to crime. Methods include comprehensive bibliographic searches, meta-analysis, and policy analysis of the legal contexts of different nations and social settings.

Principal Investigators: Centre Director Dr. Heather Strang and Professor Lawrence Sherman.

Conditional Cautioning : This project was conducted in collaboration with the London Criminal Justice Board and the Crown Prosecution Service in 2004-2005.

Its task was to demonstrate in Phase I trials whether violence and property crime cases could be diverted to conditional cautioning, subject to completion of an RJ process—and if so, to conduct a randomized trial of the process compared to ordinary prosecution. The project was terminated in 2005 at the end of Phase I, after substantial work on over 10,000 cases, almost all of which were deemed ineligible under the formal guidance of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Principal Investigators: Professor Lawrence Sherman and Centre Director Dr Heather Strang.

JRC: The Justice Research Consortium Experiments, funded in 2001 by the Home Office for England and Wales.

This set of randomised controlled trials built on the findings of RISE to adapt face-to-face RJ conferences to the context of the English criminal justice system. The objective is to investigate the effectiveness of restorative justice in reducing reoffending and increasing victim satisfaction when introduced at various points in the criminal justice system, both pre- and post-conviction. From 2002 to 2005 the experiments randomly assigned over 850 consenting pairs of victims and offenders to RJ or non-RJ processes in three sites in the UK:

London: where adult offenders pleading guilty to burglary or street crime/robbery charges in the Crown Courts were randomly assigned either to court in the normal way, or to a restorative justice conference followed by court. The outcome agreement reached between victims and offenders in the conference was placed before the judge to be taken into consideration in sentencing.

Northumbria: where offenders pleading guilty to assault or property offences in the Magistrates Courts (adults) or receiving a Final Warning from police for violent or property offences (juveniles) were randomly assigned either to the treatment normally given for such offenders, or to a restorative justice conference followed by this treatment. The outcome agreement was placed before the Magistrate to be taken into consideration in sentencing.

Thames Valley Probation area, where offenders convicted of violent offences and sentenced to terms of imprisonment were invited, based on random assignment, to participate in a restorative justice conference in addition to serving their sentence. A second experiment in the same area randomly assigned the effectiveness of conferences for violent offenders sentenced to community supervision orders.

All JRC experiments have been the subject of an independent evaluation by Professor Joanna Shapland and her colleagues at the University of Sheffield, whose reports and links are available on the publications page of the Centre for Restorative Justice.

Principal Investigators: Professor Lawrence Sherman and Centre Director Dr Heather Strang.

RISE: Reintegrative Shaming Experiments.

These tests compare the many consequences of crime and justice for victims and offenders randomly assigned to have cases prosecuted in court or diverted to a restorative justice conference. Four separate experiments enrolled cases in 1995-2000, for which data collection will continue until at least 2010. One experiment enrolled cases of violent crime committed by offenders under age 30. A second enrolled cases of property crime against personal victims by offenders under 18. A third enrolled cases of shoplifting in major department stores by offenders under 18. The fourth experiment enrolled offenders arrested for drinking and driving during random breath tests. Outcomes include reoffending patterns of offenders, satisfaction with justice experienced by victims and offenders, feelings of shame, anger and desire for revenge, employment, health and other dimensions of the life course.

Principal Investigators: Centre Director Dr Heather Strang and Professor Lawrence Sherman.