WHEREAS restorative justice programs have been highly successful in addressing first time offender crimes and have achieved a low occurrence of repeat offenders; AND WHEREAS restorative justice programs lower the number of cases being referred to the courts and result in cost savings in both the operations of the courts and in the corrections systems for the Province of British Columbia: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM urge the Ministry of Attorney General to provide ongoing funding of restorative justice programs.
MINISTRY OF ATTORNEY GENERAL The provincial government currently supports a significant array of restorative justice approaches to criminal acts: 1The Community Accountability Program, funded by the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, supports restorative justice programs around the province, for youth and adult offenders referred by police. These are generally first time andor minor offenders, and few of these cases would otherwise proceed to court. While cost savings are not an important rationale for these programs, the value to the victim and offender is. 2For youth whose cases have proceeded to court, the court may direct a conference between the youth, hisher parents, the victim and other involved parties. Selected Ministry of Children and Family Development youth probation officers have been specially trained to facilitate these conferences. 3Adult probation officers may oversee reparative conditions contained either in an adult diversion agreement approved by Crown Counsel, or a probation order or conditional sentence order made by the court. The Criminal Justice Reform Secretariat is working jointly with justice and social services ministries, stakeholders and community partners, to build collaborative and innovative approaches to hold offenders accountable more effectively and quickly. The Secretariat is leading pilot projects that will focus on connecting offenders to health care, social and community supports that address the root causes of their criminal behaviours, such as mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. Restorative justice has a role to play in responding to crime, along with crime prevention, and offender supervision and treatment approaches. Further investments in restorative justice would depend on assessing the priority of this intervention in relation to other crime prevention and reduction measures, and based on empirical evidence.