National Restorative Justice Practitioners Conference Hamilton 2008
The National Restorative Justice Practitioners Conference, organised by Restorative Justice Aotearoa, opened in Hamilton
today with the theme of engaging communities and enhancing practice.
Representatives of 31 community organisations are attending the conference in Hamilton.
On Saturday afternoon spokespeople from each of the major political parties will answer questions about their parties
views on restorative justice.
Tim Clarke, Chairperson of Restorative Justice Aotearoa, said that restorative justice is about strengthening
relationships with a view towards building a safer and more responsible society.
Building the availability and effectiveness of restorative justice in conjunction with the community makes perfect
sense, and gives rise to our theme, engaging communities and enhancing practice, said Mr Clarke.
In her opening address, Minister of Justice Annette King emphasised that restorative justice is not a soft option for
offenders. It requires offenders to face their victims, redress the harm they have done, and confront the causes of
their offending. Many offenders find this far more difficult than the court hearing.
Restorative justice allows victims to express their feelings of fear, anger, sadness or forgiveness, openly. Most
importantly, it brings them face to face with the person who caused these emotions, in a respectful but empowering way.
Government initiatives to increase the level of support provided to victims will include information on access to
restorative justice services, said Mrs King.
This years theme was addressed by Professor Howard Zehr, of Eastern Mennonite University, Virginia, USA. Key note
speakers include Kim Workman, the former Director of Prison Fellowship New Zealand and Rob Cooper, Chief Executive of
Ngati Hine Health Trust, Whangarei.
30 community-based providers are funded by the Ministry of Justice to deliver restorative justice services to District
Courts around New Zealand. Providers deal with a very wide range of offences and provide restorative justice processes
both pre-sentence, following a guilty plea, and as part of the Police Adult Diversion process.
end