Survivor hopes Restorative Justice will help her reclaim sense of control and empowerment over man who raped her
A survivor from Merseyside is hoping that coming face to face with the man who raped her will allow her to take back a s...
Restorative Justice is a completely voluntary process. You can change your mind at any time, either by opting out or opting in.
If you decide that you don’t want to take part in Restorative Justice after the process has begun, you don’t have to continue, whether you’re the victim or the offender.
Similarly, you might wish to change your mind about the way the Restorative Justice conference is held. For example, if you were planning to have a face-to-face RJ conference, but no longer feel comfortable doing so, you can choose an indirect method.
Indirect Restorative Justice is communication between the victim and the offender that doesn’t happen face-to-face. It could be through audio recordings, video recordings, video calls, phone calls, letter writing, emails, or messages passed on by our trained RJ facilitators.
It’s up to the victim and offender to decide which option to go for. Or, they may find that they start with letter writing, for example, but then decide to meet face-to-face because they feel comfortable enough to do so. Sometimes the form of Restorative Justice conferences changes course, but as long as both parties agree, then it’s completely OK.
In short, you do not have to go ahead with Restorative Justice if you don’t want to, even if you’ve already started the process. If you’re not sure you want to have a face-to-face RJ conference, plenty of other options are available.
Click here to find out more about Restorative Justice.
