Recently the Catholic Parliamentary Liaison Office, NICRO¹ and the Prison Care and Support Network² held a collaborative roundtable discussion on recidivism. This briefing paper reflects both the presentations of the panel of speakers as well as the subsequent discussion.³ The discussion took place within the framework of a ‘restorative justice’ approach in terms of which

“crime is seen primarily as an offence against human relationships, and secondarily as a violation of a law… it recognizes that crime is wrong and should not occur, and also recognizes that after it does there are dangers and opportunities. The danger is that the community, victim(s), and/or offender will emerge from the experience further alienated, more damaged, disrespected, disempowered, feeling less safe and less cooperative with society. The opportunity is that injustice is recognized, the equity is restored, and the future is clarified so that participants are safer, more respectful, and more empowered and cooperative with each other and society. Restorative justice is a process to ‘make things as right as possible’".⁴

Written by Lois Law and Venessa Padayachee, Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference Parliamentary Liaison Office