Can Restorative justice play a role in addressing Legacy issues? Allison Morris interview with Debbie Watters of NIA in today’s Belfast Telegraph.

Former senior Policing Board member Debbie Watters tells Allison Morris that Northern Ireland “lags behind” the rest of the UK when it comes to alternatives to the traditional judicial system. For the first time in the organisation's 25-year history, the Restorative Justice Council, which represents groups across the UK, will hold its annual conference in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's justice system is in crisis, and was hindered further by lockdown, with warnings it could take until 2028 to deal with the magistrates' courts backlog. A 2018 Audit Report found criminal cases take twice as long to come to court in Northern Ireland as they do in England and Wales.

Today, experts from across the four parts of the UK will meet in the Stormont Hotel to discuss alternatives to court-ordered sentences and how to encourage public confidence in restorative practices.

Restorative justice is not a new concept.

It has been around for decades, with a number of accredited organisations working on alternatives to custody within the community. In Northern Ireland, restorative justice is already being used, with notable successes in the Youth Justice System. The number of children convicted and sentenced to serve a custodial sentence in Northern Ireland went from 16 children in 2017-18 to zero in 2021-22, with youth courts increasing reliance on diversionary and restorative justice practices.

However, when it comes to adult offending, critics say the practice has been seriously under-utilised. Ms Watters is a co-director and founding member of Northern Ireland Alternatives (NIA), a community-based restorative justice organisation working within the loyalist community. She works closely with Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI), the nationalist group founded in 1998 in an effort to provide non-violent methods of conflict resolution within the republican community.

At first the two organisations dealt mainly with those who were under paramilitary threat, mediation that has helped dramatically reduce the number of punishment-style attacks every year in Northern Ireland.

But it is this background, says Ms Watters, that has tainted how people view restorative justice. “I think the lens through which it has been seen here hasn't served us well, and I think it is time we got rid of that,” she said. “My staff team are not one thing by day and something else by night.

“Restorative justice has evolved in a way that it is not just about mediating with paramilitaries and people under threat; those were its historical roots, but now it about transforming our culture from one of violence and adversarialism.

“It is also about keeping people out of the criminal justice system and out of prison, and isn't that what we need? Our prisons are full to capacity.

“Our criminal justice system and prison system is not really about rehabilitation now, it is about management because of budgetary cuts and because of capacity.

“And so restorative justice is an ideal way to say, let's look at your offence, let's look at the hurt that has been caused to the community and to your victims, and let's make that right through a government accredited body.”

Supporters say restorative practices have a much wider value, and have been used in other regions to keep petty offenders out of the court system, using methods that include victims playing a role in helping offenders face up to the consequences of their criminality.

Ms Watters says it is important for public confidence that the sector is officially accredited. In Northern Ireland, all groups, whether voluntary or statutory, will now have to be accredited if they want to practice restorative justice. This will include schools, Victim Support and groups like Niacro.

“If you are accredited you are adhering to a certain standard of quality assurance, a certain standard of training, a certain standard of practice and development,” said Ms Watters. “This gives the establishment reassurance that you are a bona fide organisation.

“What I like about the new accreditation is it is a way of no longer saying that the grassroots organisations are the 'dirty ones' and we need to find a way to make them clean.

“What it is saying is that to do restorative justice and restorative practices well in this region, you have to adhere to this set of guidelines and quality assurance.” In terms of the current backlog in the courts, Ms Watters says restorative practices are a way to “expedite the adult system”.

“This is really important; we need to change how we do business with adults. The waiting lists do not just have an impact on offenders and their families, but think what that is like as a victim?

“Victims are further traumatised by the wait, making court appearances so much more difficult. Helping expedite that would serve both victims and communities better.

“Why not take the low level stuff out of the justice system?

“We are not saying take out the murder cases, no one is saying that — but low level offences can be dealt with differently.”

Former acting PSNI Chief Constable Judith Gillespie and the former head of Northern Ireland Probation Tim Chapman are to speak at the Stormont justice summit. The conference has attracted experts in the field from across the UK at a time when policing in Northern Ireland is in turmoil following the resignation of Chief Constable Simon Byrne.

Ms Watters said: “We know what the police are saying about low level criminality and mental health and the impact that has on the system at a time of budgetary cuts. “We in restorative justice can do a wrap around service for all of that, so we don't just look at the offence but the underlying symptoms and causes, what is going on in that person's life.

“Look I know there are people out there saying, 'Why do they deserve help?' But even if you're a 'lock them up and throw away the key' person, I would say to you, helping the person who is offending actually means there are going to be no more victims, and that is what we all want.”