Financial benefits of restorative justice highlighted in report
Bringing victims and their perpetrators face to face for mediation resulted in financial benefits of more than £500,000 in Essex last year.
The Essex Restorative and Mediation Service, part of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex’s team, brings together people in conflict to give the opportunity for questions to be answered and for both sides to move on with their lives in a positive way.
A team of trained volunteer facilitators spend days, weeks and months communicating with both sides of a conflict before bringing them together – if both agree – to discuss the incident which has impacted them both.
They could deal with any set of circumstances, ranging from neighbour disputes and burglaries to sexual abuse and murder.
Restorative Justice charity Why Me? analysed the economic impact of Restorative Justice interventions delivered post sentence for the more serious crimes across England and Wales from 2021 data.
The research analysed the economic impacts of Restorative Justice interventions, including impacts on reoffending and direct benefits to victims.
Taking part in Restorative Justice does not alter the allocation of conventional justice, it instead acts as a supplement to run alongside.
Roger Hirst, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex, said: “With a quarter of convicted offenders proven to reoffend within a year – with an average of three to four proven reoffences per reoffender – Restorative Justice is a way of stopping the trend.
“Using the tools provided by the Why Me? work, the Team were able to calculate benefits in the county for 2022 which totalled £533,504.18.
“The figures break down to a total cost per direct intervention in Essex of £4,116.88, with total benefits per intervention of £48,145.55.
“This shows that Restorative Justice has many benefits, helping people to make peace, make amends and ultimately save our society money.”
If you are interested in finding out more about RJ in Essex head to restorativeessex.co.uk
