A year in review: 2024 at Why me?
This is a blog by Why me?’s CEO, Sara Dowling.
As 2024 draws to a close, we reflect on a year of big change and meaningful impact at Why me?.
A new Government has brought hope and opportunity to a broken criminal justice system, and Why me? have worked hard this year to capitalise on the opportunities that this presented. We have met with key decision makers and worked closely with the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice to push for more concrete actions to strengthen access to Restorative Justice.
Since joining the team as CEO in March, I’ve been so inspired by the impact that our small and mighty organisation makes, delivered by a brilliant and talented team, supported by dedicated Trustees, Ambassadors and volunteers. The work would also not be possible without great support and engagement from the wider Restorative Justice sector. Thank you to every one of you who has supported us, taken part in our events, shared, collaborated and worked with us this year.
Here are just a few of our highlights from 2024:
Championing Restorative Justice
Our exciting short film, “What would you say?” powerfully communicates how people affected by crime feel silenced and how Restorative Justice can give them back their voice. It was viewed 5,500 times in its first ten days and has been submitted for a film award. #takethetapeoff
Powerful Restorative Justice messages appeared on 245 billboards across the UK during April, which were seen 21,537,000 times. Our Restorative Justice messages also received 187,000 social media impressions and reached 40,000 website users.
“Congratulations on this great campaign – looks amazing! And of great benefit to all of us working in RJ in the UK.” Joy Bettles from the Mint House
Our event on ‘How to communicate Restorative Justice effectively‘ during RJ Week addressed the challenges in how we increase understanding of Restorative Justice with new audiences, with over 75 people attending.
We published over 52 newsletters and 71 blogs this year on a diverse range of topics outlined below.
Why me? Chair of Trustees, David Munro, attended the first of the Reith Lectures delivered by Dr Gwen Adshead, which asked ‘Is violence normal?’. He raised a question about Restorative Justice in the session, leading to comments from both Dr Adshead and Jacob Dunne, a prominent Restorative Justice lived experience advocate.
Bringing the sector together
Six Restorative Justice forums took place during 2024, exploring the latest developments such as working restoratively in prisons, Child First and RJ, and using RJ to support community healing in response to the violence and unrest over the summer. Our forums are attended by professionals from across criminal legal services, with contributions from leading Restorative Justice experts sharing their insights. During 2024, 523 people attended our events.
Campaigning for a fairer and more compassionate justice system
Why me? lobbied extensively on the Victims and Prisoners Bill (now Act), generating an unprecedented amount of discussion about Restorative Justice in both Houses of Parliament, with Ministers committing to several steps to strengthen RJ awareness and access.
42 Police and Crime Commissioner candidates pledged their support for Restorative Justice in response to our campaign during local elections, including 9 elected PCCs. This was followed by our PCC 10 asks campaign to promote better Restorative Justice commissioning and practice, resulting in several meetings to discuss how PCCs can maximise the impact of RJ.
We distributed our Restorative Justice manifesto to the main political parties before the election and have been instrumental in securing a new Restorative Justice All-Party Parliamentary Group, already actively promoting RJ as a key element of developments in the criminal justice system. Prisons Minister Lord Timpson has acknowledged the benefits of Restorative Justice for harmed, harmer and their communities. We will continue to campaign to ensure this is reflected in future policy, strategy and legislation.
Establishing good practice
- Our Good Practice Guide on Restorative Justice for LGBTQ+ hate crime shares learning and examples of effective practice for this important area of work, including proactively reaching out to the LGBTQ+ communities in order to build trust and overcome misconceptions.
- Our report ‘The role of relational and restorative practice in Alternative Provision: Reducing violence and overcoming barriers to learning’ shares learning about the impact and unrealised potential for RJ in schools. It has led to ongoing work in a Pupil Referral Unit.
- Following the outbreak of racist and Islamophobic violence over the summer, we published Healing Community Harm, outlining how Restorative Justice can be used to respond and rebuild communities, produced in consultation with the sector.
Lived experience
We published five new case studies on our website, each of which communicates the power of Restorative Justice. This is an extract from James’ story:
“How do you go from being one of Birmingham’s most prolific offenders to now working alongside the police?” Meeting the people he harmed changed James’ life because he felt heard and understood. “It made me feel like a human being. Because I felt worthless.”
James realised that retail crimes were not victimless and that dialogue can help everyone impacted. His message to those who have been harmed: “Sit down with this person, meet them, ask about their background, and tell them how it’s made you feel. What have you got to lose?”
This year, all of our Ambassadors continued to play a crucial role in Why me? and contributed to our overall planning and direction. For example, Janika shared her story on the Left Field stage at Glastonbury festival (pictured) and Will provided expertise to our short film crew and participated in the panel at its launch.
New projects
Our Damage and Repair project is collecting diverse and exciting stories of Restorative Justice from around the country through a team of volunteers trained in oral history. We will be sharing these at the end of next year.
We launched our timely Interfaith Restorative Justice project. In partnership with The Faith & Belief Forum and Interfaith Glasgow, we trained up a cohort of faith leaders in Glasgow in restorative approaches, with a Solihull cohort to follow. These community facilitators will be supported to lead restorative responses to faith-based issues. By the end of the project, they will have the expertise and experience to address faith conflict and hate in their communities.
Why me? is a small charity with a big mission – to campaign for and champion the powerful tool of Restorative Justice as a way to transform our justice system to one that is just, compassionate and effective in supporting victims of crime and reducing reoffending.
We are making progress, but there is so much more to be done. If you like the work we do and support our mission, please make a donation to our Winter Appeal to fund our work. With your support we can do so much more!
Thank you for your support and we look forward to what we can achieve together in 2025!
