Restorative Justice Coordination

This topic outlines the role and responsibilities of restorative justice coordinators.

Restorative justice coordinators and facilitators

The restorative justice coordinators are Ministry of Justice employees. The restorative justice coordinator at each of the four pilot sites is responsible for managing cases through the restorative justice process, and for managing contracts with community-based restorative justice facilitators.

Court staff contact the restorative justice facilitator on a case-by-case basis. They have been trained and 'approved' by the Ministry of Justice, and are members of facilitator groups that have met Ministry of Justice requirements.

Coordination with pre-sentence reports

If the judge has requested a pre-sentence report (PSR), the restorative justice coordinator will inform the probation officer and write a report on the progress and outcome of the restorative justice conference. The probation officer will be invited to attend the conference.

The PSR writing process will be carried out in the usual way. If the restorative justice conference takes place, the probation officer will receive the conference report at least five days before sentencing.

The PSR must include:

• comment on the conference report, and
• discussion of reasons for any significantly different proposal by the probation officer, where the recommendations from the conference are not supported in the PSR.