Guides
Why me? has worked in partnership with third sector organisations, Restorative Justice facilitators, and people with lived experience to create guidance which helps to improve the use and understanding of Restorative Justice.
How to communicate Restorative Justice effectively
March 2024
Not many people know what Restorative Justice is, and for criminal justice professionals, it can be hard to explain to someone affected by crime. This short guide gives suggestions as to how to communicate Restorative Justice most effectively, ensuring that a wider range of people can access it. Based on our extensive research into reframing, the guide covers the language you should use, how to avoid misconceptions and the topics you should focus on when bringing it up.
Tackling pupil instances of Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (HBT) and Restorative Justice
July 2023
We worked on this information leaflet in collaboration with the Free2B Alliance as part of our ‘Access to justice: Restorative Justice for LGBTQ+ hate crime‘ project. This resource will be used to help educate schools on instances of HBT-phobia and how Restorative Justice can be used to repair some of the harms that have been caused by these incidents.
Disclosing information to the Parole Board explained for Restorative Services and Practitioners
April 2021
After being approached by two victims of crime who were concerned about the way that the Parole Board would consider their restorative conference, we found that there was a need for greater mutual understanding between the Parole Board and restorative providers.
So in 2018 we worked with The Parole Board to improve its panel members’ understanding of Restorative Justice, and to improve restorative practitioners’ understanding of the parole process. This collaboration resulted in two guidance documents being produced.
Restorative Justice explained for Parole Board Panel Members
The Parole process explained for Restorative services and practitioners
Following that process, we published updated guidance in 2021 which explains to restorative providers, what information they are expected to disclose to the Parole Board about cases which they have worked on.
Good Practice Guide for the use Restorative Justice for Out of Court Disposals
March 2021
This research sought to highlight the “quick wins”and good practice that police forces have implemented in the use of Out of Court Disposals and Restorative Justice to reduce the backlog of court cases due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Safe-To-Be by Speak Out Project – Handbook
October 2020
The purpose of this article is to map out the considerations that need to be taken to conduct Restorative Justice for cases of LGBTI hate crime. It includes key points as they arise at each stage of the Restorative Justice process – from before initial contact has been made, through to debrief and beyond.
Virtual Restorative Justice: Good Practice Guide 
September 2020
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, restorative services were facing demand to deliver restorative practice virtually, which the majority of them had never considered before. The concept of virtual Restorative Justice brings up many new challenges which restorative providers needed to consider. With these challenges in mind, this guide goes into detail about the considerations which facilitators should take into account when managing an online restorative process.
How to have a restorative conversation with victims of crime
June 2017
This guide gives practical advice about what to expect from a restorative process and how to help victims make an informed decision about their involvement. It is also aims to support practitioners working with external agencies to manage risk for all throughout the restorative process.
Improving how victims understand Restorative Justice
June 2017
This campaign aimed to give RJ practitioners and services an opportunity to review how they were currently making victims aware of RJ and how this can be improved.