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“Ask what is strong, not what is wrong”

With less than a month to go before Restorative Justice week 2025, and with plans under way for the start of our Restorative Skills course next week, thoughts naturally turn to restorative justice.

It’s been almost a year since my first Restorative Justice Council conference, and the sense of hope that I took from that event is still tempered by frustration that Scotland has not yet turned policy intent into practice. What has moved on, however, is time, and with the Holyrood elections in 2026 fast approaching, there is a clear opportunity for political parties to take a fresh, evidence-based look at penal reform. And the evidence tells us that penal reform, if it is to effectively break the cycle of offending and reoffending, must include a measure of restorative justice.

Scotland and the rest of the UK continue to record the highest per-capita incarceration rates in Western Europe [1], but we already know the evidence for restorative practice is strong; so perhaps this time we need to ask ourselves, and our representatives, whether we are ready to act on it.

[Originally posted on December 10 2024 at 12:01]
 
A couple of Fridays ago I was lucky enough to attend the Restorative Justice Council annual conference in Cardiff. There I heard from experienced restorative practitioners across different sectors talk about changing the culture within their organisations from a punitive to a restorative one. A single phrase in particular stood out for me – “ask what is strong not what is wrong”. This has stayed with me since. It echoes my experience of delivering Outcomes Star™ training and of hearing the experiences of Sacro workers where they help those they support build on their strengths. It also has another meaning for me.
 
Restorative justice in Scotland is, in many ways, at a fork in the road. With the pausing of the rollout of the Restorative Justice Action Plan, there has been an impact. This pausing affected not just organisations and their strategic plans, but restorative practitioners working with clients. Many I know felt demoralised and disheartened. And so this phrase is not only for restorative practitioners working with clients, it should be seen as a call to action across the restorative landscape.
 
Within Scotland there are organisations, schools, prisons, social work departments, colleges, and other bodies that promote restorative practice. Often working in isolation, these beacons of hope need to shine more clearly and be seen more clearly. The conference demonstrated to me the benefit in sharing experiences, encouraging connections and developing new networks. All this I believe can be achieved here in the Scottish context. Blog after blog complains about policy and strategy; these undeniably are important but takes attention away from the good work being done. Instead, we need to celebrate successes, share experiences, and encourage others to take up the torch. I hope 2025 will see a positive movement forward for restorative practice in Scotland.

[1] as of 2023, based on Wikipedia entry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_prison_population