VICINFO: Enabling VICtim access to restorative justice through INFOrmation sharing

• In Event: Victims in the Criminal Justice System: Participation, Rights, and Challenges

Abstract

Restorative justice is a voluntary process where victims of crime can communicate with a person who offends against them. Research finds that participating in restorative justice can help victims recover, provide access to justice and reparation, and result in greater levels of victim satisfaction with criminal justice than court. The EU Victims’ Rights Directive 2012 gives minimum standards for restorative justice. Transposed into Irish law, the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act 2017 provides for victims to receive information about restorative justice, where services are available, mirroring similar legislation in other countries. Most victims have not heard of restorative justice nor know that it could be an option for them, and practitioners who are not trained as facilitators often struggle to explain the process to prospective participants. The research suggests that the organisation that would facilitate restorative justice if it does happen must be enabled to contact victims to provide them relevant information so that victims can make an informed decision as to whether restorative justice is right for them. However, restorative justice providers in Ireland and other countries are prevented from contacting victims to offer their services because of a lack of information sharing protocols between organisations and a misinterpretation of data protection requirements. Funded by Research Ireland, VICINFO explores information sharing policies that maximise access to restorative justice for victims. This presentation draws on several sources of data and information – interviews with key stakeholders across Europe, case studies of countries with laws, policies or procedures that help services get around this challenge, and legal analyses of European data protection laws in the context of victims’ services and rights – to illustrate how data protection requirements need not inhibit governments from maximising the accessibility of restorative justice and other victim services.

Author

• Ian Marder, Maynooth University