New report calls for Restorative Justice to address institutional harm
This is a blog by our Communications and Campaigns Manager, Keeva Baxter.
This week, the Wayfinders Group published a White Paper titled ‘From harm to healing: Rebuilding trust in Britain’s publicly funded institutions. The report outlines how we are currently facing a “systemic crisis of institutional legitimacy” – meaning that the general public have no trust in the systems designed to protect them.
Why me? were pleased to contribute to this report, speaking at length with the Wayfinders Group about the power of Restorative Justice and its potential in cases of institutional harm. We shared the stories of our Ambassadors to demonstrate the life changing impact that a restorative approach can have for survivors. We also shared some information about what survivors need and why language and the way Restorative Justice is communicated is so important.
We welcome the White Paper’s recommendations, to embed a restorative approach from the top down, starting with the Government and ensuring that public bodies do not prioritise their reputation over the healing of people who have been harmed. In this blog, we share some of the key points from the report and how Restorative Justice plays a part.
The report begins by outlining the causes of the erosion of trust in publicly funded institutions; “repeated failures that have caused profound harm to individuals and communities… This crisis does not stem from isolated failures, but rather from a fundamental contradiction: institutions designed to serve communities consistently prioritise self-protection over accountability when they cause harm.”
Some examples of these failures given in the report include “the Home Office’s “culture of disbelief” toward Windrush survivors to systematic failures in child protection highlighted by Baroness Casey’s national audit revealing how institutional self-protection repeatedly overrode safeguarding duties in grooming gang cases, with authorities more concerned about reputation management than protecting vulnerable children, to the NHS’ decades of denial over infected blood, from educational institutions’ inconsistent application of duty of care principles to the judiciary’s defensive responses to discrimination.”
On top of the initial harm caused by the institutions’ actions, further harm is triggered by them choosing “damage control over genuine repair”. For example, the report highlights the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster which was followed by “active cover-ups by South Yorkshire Police”, taking no accountability for the fatal crush and instead blaming fans.
The white paper suggests that the way forward is through acknowledgement, compensation and rehabilitation, repairing harm by listening to the needs of those most affected and taking a restorative lens to the next steps.
“The most effective way to tackle these issues is to integrate restorative practices at the point of harm, before individuals are forced — or resort — to the justice system. This approach not only reduces compounding harm, but also ensures more equitable, compassionate, and effective treatment, helping to rebuild trust in public institutions while simultaneously reducing the financial strain on the system.
They argue that this needs to start from the top, with change implemented by the Government. “To change the narrative of institutional harm, the UK Government must take an active, restorative role; one grounded in acknowledgement, accountability, and transformative justice… The Government must set a precedent by openly recognising the harm caused by institutions under its purview. This is not merely about public statements or symbolic gestures; it is about validating the lived experiences of survivors and creating space for their stories to inform reform.”
The Wayfinders Group acknowledge a dichotomy familiar to many working in the criminal justice sector – that the system designed to provide ‘justice’ often ignores the needs of people harmed by crime, prioritising punishment instead of meaningful action for those who have endured the harm.
“This white paper powerfully advocates for a restorative justice approach, which focuses on healing through acknowledgement, apology, and amends. Restorative processes create opportunities for dialogue between harmed individuals and the institutions responsible, fostering a collective process of truth-telling, empathy, and repair. The Government has a critical role in mainstreaming this approach — not just as a response mechanism, but as a core principle of public policy and governance. Furthermore, the Government must actively legislate for change. Codifying restorative justice principles into statutory and policy frameworks would signal a systemic commitment to transformation.”
The paper goes on to give some recommendations for implementing this change, including one to ‘Legislate a National Restorative Framework Across Public Institutions’: “The UK Government should develop and implement a statutory framework that mandates the integration of restorative principles into the operations of all publicly funded institutions: acknowledgement, apology, accountability, and amends. Making public institutions restorative organisations, where healing is prioritised over punishment and relationships over transactions, with the aim of repairing harm instead of erasing it. This will transform public institutions.”
We appreciate the report’s recommendations, their call for the meaningful integration of Restorative Justice in the system, and their reference to Why me? as a contributor. We look forward to seeing the impact of the report, and hope to see the implementation of these recommendations by the Government and publicly funded institutions.
See more of Why me?’s content on this topic:
“I am stuck in prison with no way out”: the institutional harm of IPP sentences
A restorative approach to corporate harm
You can find out more about the White Paper here.
