A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT MP who survived a “murderous” attack at home moved amendments to the Victims and Courts Bill on Monday to give victims of crime the right of referral to restorative-justice services.
“Increasingly, when we talk about justice for victims, the debate collapses into retributive justice, as if all victims want is to lock the door and throw away the key,” Paul Kohler, the member for Wimbledon, told the House of Commons.
“Victims of crime do not want retribution but closure, and giving them the opportunity to enter into a process that allows them to share their feelings concerning the crime with others, often culminating in a meeting with the perpetrator, has repeatedly been shown to achieve just that.”
In 2014, while working as a university law lecturer, Mr Kohler was severely injured by four burglars in his home. Meeting one of his attackers in prison, in an encounter organised by the restorative-justice charity Why Me?, had “transformed” his family, he said. It had allowed his daughter to “demythologise the perpetrator: no longer a monster, but a deeply flawed human being who she could look straight in the eye and cast from her nightmares”.
Only one in 20 adult victims with a known offender was routinely told about restorative justice, he said. His amendments would establish a right of referral and also commit the Government to undertaking an assessment of the use of restorative-justice services by victims. “Let us not forget that while restorative justice is all about putting the victims at the heart of the criminal justice process, it also has the proven added advantage of cutting rates of recidivism.”
The Prison Service is holding a consultation, due to conclude next month, on its Restorative Practice Hub (re:hub), established in 2019 to support and coordinate restorative justice across the agency. In August, Why Me? wrote to the prisons minister, Lord Timpson, warning that re:hub had “become a blockage in the system, preventing many cases from going ahead, failing to keep up with the caseload and leading to enormous delays and further harm to participants who are left without answers”. The hub was “excessively risk averse”, the charity said.
In July, Inside Time, the national newspaper for prisoners, reported that the Sycamore Tree programme, run by the Prison Fellowship, was no longer being delivered in prisons, after it failed to meet the Prison Service’s current criteria for endorsement. Run for 25 years, the programme had more than 40,000 prisoner participants, who were encouraged to accept personal responsibility and to make a symbolic act of restitution.
“Time and again, the programme has brought grace, insight and hope into places often marked by revenge and despair,” a statement from the Fellowship said. It was “actively engaged in constructive conversations” with the Prison Service “about how the core principles and life-changing content of Sycamore Tree might continue to have an impact in new and meaningful ways within our prisons”.
This week, the Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, the Church of England’s lead bishop for prisons, described the Prison Service’s decision as “disheartening and almost incredible”, referring to “the qualitative evidence that it has been transformational for people of all faiths and no faith.
“I need to be clear that I never condone criminal behaviour and we should never turn a blind eye to wrongdoing,” she said. “All our choices have consequences. But I do want us to be far more courageous and engage boldly with questions about what will actually be life-changing not only for offenders, but also for victims of crime — recognising that many offenders are also victims — families and whole communities. Simply locking more and more people up and for longer is not transformation, and our high rates of reoffending are evidence of that. This is where restorative justice comes in. . .
“The rhetoric of being tough on crime does not reflect our current policy. We are being soft on crime and opting for a lazy option, which is simply about locking people up. Restorative justice is one aspect of what it would be like to be truly tough on crime, as we would then be focusing on a commitment to transformation for individuals, families, and whole communities.”
Raising the issue of restorative justice in the House of Commons in April, on the day after the death of Pope Francis, Mr Kohler observed that the Pope had been “a passionate advocate for a justice system that put reconciliation at its heart” throughout his life. The MP urged the Government to “move our justice system towards one that contains, in the words of Pope Francis, a ‘horizon of hope’ and reintegration”.
Last week, Mr Kohler told the Church Times: “Restorative Justice is one of the most powerful tools we have, not just to reduce reoffending, but to put victims at the heart of the criminal justice system and give them a real sense of closure.
“But I’m deeply concerned that, instead of expanding access, the current system, particularly the role played by re:hub, appears to be adding unnecessary bureaucracy and blocking progress. Experts on the ground, who’ve delivered these services successfully for years, are being sidelined, and victims are being left waiting or walking away entirely. That’s not good enough.
“I welcome the current review and hope these issues of central control can be addressed, so reHub can facilitate, not stifle, this vital work.”
