The Restorative Justice Council lay out the six restorative principles in their Restorative Practice Guidance (2020). If you continue on to the Restorative Facilitator Training you will be given a copy of this Guidance Manual.
The six principles are:
- Restoration – the primary aim of restorative practice is to address and repair harm.
- Voluntarism – participation in restorative processes is voluntary and based on informed choice.
- Impartiality – restorative practitioners must remain impartial and ensure their restorative practice is respectful, non-discriminatory and unbiased towards all participants. Practitioners must be able to recognise potential conflicts of interest which could affect their impartiality.
- Safety – processes and practice aim to ensure the safety of all participants and create a safe space for the expression of feelings and views about harm that has been caused.
- Accessibility – restorative processes are non-discriminatory and available to all those affected by conflict and harm.
- Empowerment – restorative practice must support individuals to feel more confident in making their own informed choices to find solutions and ways forward which best meet their needs.
If you have been working restoratively for a while already, you may have noticed that two of the principles have changed.
Neutrality has become Impartiality
And
Respect has become Empowerment
We feel that these changes suitably reflect the aim of restorative work better than their predecessors.