Probation Officer Process

Stage

Description

1

The restorative justice coordinator makes a brief initial inquiry into the possibility of a conference and, if appropriate, makes a referral to a suitable facilitation provider group.

Note: The probation officer will be notified if the conference is not possible.

2

The coordinator gathers information required to make referral to an appropriate facilitation provider group. (The probation officer may be asked to supply contact details for the offender.)

3

The coordinator supplies the probation officer with an initial conference notification form containing details of the facilitator provider group and facilitator.

4

The probation officer receives the second conference notification form and invitation to attend, containing confirmation of:

• whether the conference will take place or not
• details of the conference, and
• the date the conference report is due.

5

The probation officer is notified of the date of the registrar's adjournment if the conference is to take place after the case adjournment date.

6

The conference is facilitated.

7

The probation officer receives the restorative justice conference report (at least 5 working days before sentencing). The PSR must include comment on the conference report and discuss reasons for any significantly different proposal by the probation officer.

8

The probation officer receives the conference plan progress/completion reports (if there is a plan to complete and a PSR is required).

Note: If the sentence includes supervision or community work and there has been no PSR, a copy of the conference report will be sent to the CPPS service centre.