Restorative justice: policy and practice framework

19. Service referral

19.1 RJ in Scotland should be regarded as a separate process to any formal system response to the act of harm. This means that RJ cannot be used as an alternative to any process or sentence resultant from the criminal justice or Children’s Hearing system. However, this does not prohibit statutory and/or universal support services operating at any stage of the system from supporting an individual to make a referral for RJ, or from making such a referral on their behalf with their free and informed consent. Where either party is a child, then there should be multi-agency consideration prior to any referral being made, to ensure that this aligns with the needs of that child and is fully incorporated into the wider Child’s Plan process under GIRFEC principles.

19.2 In the specific case of Diversion from Prosecution, the local authority or other agency identified as the lead assessor may also consider whether it would be appropriate to refer the individual to a locally available RJ service. RJ will then take place independently from the diversion from prosecution process, unless all parties to RJ consent to making the local authority and COPFS aware of any outcomes from the process as part of a diversion from prosecution completion report.